Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract NACNDC/19JASH0017 (Oral) | Published: 18 Nov 2025
Colman Tayebwa1,2,&, Patrick Muhumuza1, Maria Nakimbugwe1, Anthony Ssemaganda1, Vincent Basajja1, Paddy Kafeero1, Anita Kabarambi1, Mary Nyantaro1, Sylvia Kusemererwa1, Freddie Mukasa Kibengo1
1Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Uganda Research Unit, Entebbe, Uganda, 2London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
&Corresponding author: Colman Tayebwa, Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Uganda Research Unit, Entebbe, Uganda, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom, Email: colman.tayebwa@mrcuganda.org
Received: 11 Sep 2025, Accepted: 20 Oct 2025, Published: 18 Nov 2025
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: Community engagement, recruitment and retention, HIV vaccine trials
©Colman Tayebwa et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Colman Tayebwa et al., Community engagement as a pillar for successful HIV vaccine trials: Insights from rural Uganda. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8(ConfProc6):00017. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO6-00017
Recruiting and retaining participants in HIV vaccine trials remains a major challenge, particularly in rural settings, despite HIV continuing to be a global public health concern with approximately 1.3 million new infections reported worldwide in 2023. An effective preventive HIV vaccine is considered the most promising strategy for controlling the epidemic. This study underscores the critical role of community engagement in achieving successful trial outcomes and also assessed the feasibility of retaining at least 90% of enrolled volunteers through to study completion. Insights are drawn from a Phase I HIV vaccine trial conducted at a rural clinical research site in South Western Uganda.
A Phase I multicentre study assessed the immunogenicity and safety of a prime-boost HIV vaccination regimen that included modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) after non-replicating simian adenovirus (ChAdOx1). We targeted healthy adults from low-incidence HIV communities, aged between 18 and 50 years. Community leaders and Village Health Teams (VHTs) played a key role in participant mobilisation for stakeholder meetings and pre-screening seminars, while research literacy sessions were conducted throughout the study. Additional strategies include mapping physical addresses, gathering numerous contact details, and making follow-up home visits.
22 people were enrolled out of 47 who were screened between October 12 and November 18, 2021. Because every participant showed up for their scheduled visits, the retention rate was 100%. Strong community involvement, ongoing education, positive researcher-participant relationships, and a friendly site environment were all credited with the success.
Engaging the Community Advisory Board, Village Health Teams (VHTs), and strategies such as research literacy sessions, seminars, mapping addresses, collecting multiple contacts, and reminder calls were pivotal in building trust and ensuring strong participant recruitment and retention. These findings affirm that meaningful community engagement is essential for the feasible and successful conduct of early-phase HIV vaccine trials in rural settings.
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