Mutale W, Freeborn K, Graybill LA, et al. - Considering that improvement in testing men for HIV during their partner's pregnancy can aid in improving couple-based HIV prevention and treatment, researchers herein evaluated a combination approach, using evidence-based strategies, to improve HIV testing in male partners of HIV-positive and HIV-negative pregnant women.

• Two parallel, unmasked randomized trials were conducted; in trial 1, pregnant women who had an HIV-positive test result documented in their antenatal record were included and in trial 2, women who had an HIV-negative test result documented in their antenatal record were included from an antenatal setting in Lusaka, Zambia.

• In both the trials, women were randomized (1:1) either to the intervention or control groups.

• Only partner notification services, including an adapted version for women who were HIV-negative, were provided to the women in the control groups; women in the intervention groups were additionally provided targeted education on the use of oral HIV self-test kits for their partners, along with up to five oral HIV self-test kits.

• Researchers enrolled a total of 116 women who were HIV-positive (trial 1) and 210 women who were HIV-negative (trial 2) and randomly allocated them to the study groups.

• An improvement in overall HIV testing in male partners of pregnant women was observed in correlation with implementing the combination approach but there appeared a reduction in the proportion of men who sought follow-up facility-based testing.

• Overall outcomes suggest a possible value of this combination approach for reducing linkages to health care, including for HIV prevention, and support its consideration in the design of comprehensive HIV programs.