Home counseling visits increase HIV testing for couples, viral suppression for mothers in Kenya

A home-based counseling program for pregnant women and their male partners increased couples HIV testing and helped mothers living with HIV achieve viral suppression, new research shows.

The study, co-led by the University of Michigan and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, found that home counseling visits more than quadrupled joint HIV testing rates compared with standard clinic-based care.

By 12 months postpartum, 56% of couples receiving home visits had tested together, while only 13.6% of those who received routine services at a health facility tested jointly for HIV. ...