Impact of youth lay health workers on HIV service delivery in South Africa: A pragmatic cluster randomized trial of the Youth Health Africa program

Background Innovative approaches are needed to increase lay health workers in HIV programs. The Youth Health Africa (YHA) program is a novel approach that places young adults seeking work experience in one-year internships in health facilities to support HIV-related programming (e.g., HIV testing) or administration (e.g., filing). Methods We implemented a pragmatic, randomized trial among 20 facilities in Ngaka Modiri Molema district in North West province from October 2020-August 2021 to assess impact of YHA interns on HIV testing, treatment initiation, and retention in care. The primary outcome was proportion of patients tested for HIV. Secondary outcomes assessed HIV positivity, initiation in care, retention in care, and HIV testing among males and adolescents/young adults. We conducted an intention-to-treat analysis accounting for variations in baseline outcomes between control and intervention facilities using difference-in-difference and controlled time series approaches. We repeated this using as-treated groupings for sensitivity analyses. Results Fifty interns were placed in 20 facilities; thirty-four interns remained at 18 facilities through August 2021. Compared to control facilities, intervention facilities had a greater improvement in HIV testing (Delta Delta+5.7%, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): -3.7%-15.1%) and treatment initiation (Delta Delta+10.3%, 95% CI: -27.8-48.5%), but these differences were not statistically significant. There was an immediate increase in HIV testing in intervention facilities after program interns were placed, which was not observed in control facilities; this difference was significant (Delta Delta+8.4%, 95% CI: 0.5-16.4%, p = 0.036). There were no other differences in outcomes observed between intervention and control facilities. Conclusion This was largely a null trial, but there were signals that program interns may have positive impact on HIV testing and treatment initiation. As implemented in this study, addition of YHA program interns had little impact on facility-based HIV service delivery. A higher number of interns placed per facility may be necessary to affect HIV services. Trial registration Registration: This trial was registered with the ISRCTN (Registration number: ISRCTN67031403) in October 2022.