Preparations for HOPE:

Community, Participants and Staff

Wendy Mkhize CAPRISA eThekwini Community Liaison Officer On behalf of the CAPRISA eThekwini MTN 025 Study Team

MTN Regional Meeting

September 2016

-- August was women’s month in South Africa --

A Women’s day event took place on 19 Aug 16. At this event participants were reminded of the ASPIRE results

and given more information about the HOPE study, specifically messages around Choice, Adherence and

Accurate Reporting.

Participants

Participant’s Women's Day Event 19 August 2016

Participant’s Responses During MTN 032 interviews with former ASPIRE participants, these were some of the responses:

• “My partner said the ring enhanced our sexual life, so I can’t wait for HOPE to start.”

• “I now know that the ring works, so of course I want to use it so I can be protected.”

• “My using the ring was motivated by the fact that I want to help other people. I made a choice that I will partake in the study and I know that the information that would come from this, will not only help me but future generations.”

More Participant Responses

• “There are a lot of people that we are helping by being part of this study. I am looking forward to the day when the ring will be rolled out to all women in our country and I would know that I was part of the people who made it possible.”

• Low adherers in ASPIRE mentioned that HOPE is their chance to use the ring the way they were suppose too.

• The CAB was informed of the HOPE study at a meeting held on 26 May 16.

• They were given more information about the HOPE study on 31 Aug 16, where ICFS and factsheets were shared with them.

• The organisation “Men for Change” invited the CAPRISA team to join them for their Health Day event on 29 Jul 16 – the HOPE study was discussed as one of the topics on the agenda.

Community

Community

• Twelve Stakeholders have been updated on the HOPE Study. These include: Masibambisane VCT Centre, Streetwise Comm Centre, John Makhathini Youth

Centre, Bhambayi Comm Centre, Brothers For Life, Ekuvukeni Comm Centre, Ethekwini Comm Church, Comm Media Trust, Ethekwini Municipality, Life-Line, Howard College, Edgewood College.

• The Community Team is also part of the Operation Sukuma Sakhe. This is an initiative which was formed by the Province

of KwaZulu-Natal and presentations on HOPE were done in the Ward Committee Meetings on 07 Jun 16, 14 Jun 16 and 26 Jul 16.

• CAPRISA was invited to join a Global Village session at the International AIDS 2016 conference held in Durban (18-22 Jul 16)

• The focus was “The HIV Prevention Landscape for Women: A Look at New and Emerging HIV Prevention Options, Including PrEP, Vaginal Rings and New Products in Development”.

• Former ASPIRE participant were panellists and shared her views on ring use and the upcoming HOPE study.

Community

Site Staff

• Staff attended the HOPE Engagement Workshop in Durban: 21-22 June 2016. Feedback on HOPE Community Messages were shared

with the site team and community team members. Multiple mock COACH sessions were conducted on site.

• Site Protocol, SOP and SSP training: 16-17 Aug 16

• Three day Study Specific Training: 23-25 Aug 16

Where are we with MTN 025 (HOPE)…

• CAPRISA eThekwini Site – activated on 12 Sept 16.

• First screening visit conducted on 21 Sept 16. The new PID format (XXX–XXXXXX) is unfamiliar. The team will

get used to this with time.

The CRF completion guidelines is a useful resource and each staff member should have a copy easily accessible – especially since CRF instructions are not printed behind CRFs.

Our first screener was menstruating and therefore the PAP smear was deferred and the visit was split – the recruitment team has since added a ‘check on menses’ item to the pre-screening checklist.

• First enrolment scheduled for 04 Oct 16.

THANK YOU !