Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract NACNDC/19JASH013 (Oral) | Published: 18 Nov 2025
Nathan Okiror1,2,&, Dinah Pedun1,2 Freda Akello1,2, Evelyn Apio1,2, Lwanga Ssekiswa1,2, Alex Mugume1,2, Becky Egessa3 Connie Bwire3 , Patricia Nahirya Ntege1, Denise Birungi1, Dithan Kiragga1
1Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation, Kampala, Uganda, 2Local Partner Health Services – Eastern, Uganda, 3Tororo District Local Government, Uganda
&Corresponding author: Nathan Okiror, Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation Uganda, Email: nokiror@baylor-uganda.org
Received: 12 Sep 2025, Accepted: 20 Oct 2025, Published: 18 Nov 2025
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: Enhanced APN and SNS; Community partnerships
©Nathan Okiror 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: Nathan Okiror et al., Community engagement for enhanced index and social network strategy to optimise HIV testing services in Tororo, eastern Uganda. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8(ConfProc6):013. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO6-00013
HIV case identification and treatment linkage are vital to achieve the UNAIDS 2030 epidemic-control target. Uganda’s identification rate is 80.9%, below the 95% goal (UPHIA 2020). The Ministry of Health recommends Assisted Partner Notification (APN) and the Social Network Strategy (SNS) to find new HIV-positive individuals. This project aimed to strengthen community engagement to improve case identification through enhanced index/partner testing and SNS in four Tororo sub-counties.
Under the Local Partner Health Services Eastern project, facility teams received training on enhanced APN and SNS and reviewed client charts to list non-suppressed clients. Teams conducted community visits to provide HIV testing services (HTS) to sexual and social contacts and offered prevention to those testing negative using government-supplied commodities. To increase demand, sub-county leaders helped us meet bar owners and display prevention messages in local languages. Two outreaches in cement factories included drug refills for clients already on ART. Community dialogues raised awareness while health facilities continued screening.
Enhanced APN and SNS markedly increased HIV-related services compared with routine practice. Three community dialogues engaged 262 men and 290 women, six bars displayed prevention messages, and partnerships with bar owners were established. From January–June to July–December 2024, HIV-positive identifications and linkages rose from 77 to 151. Among HIV-negative contacts, self-test distribution increased from 489 to 1,225, post-exposure prophylaxis from 113 to 185, and PrEP initiation from 1,111 to 1,339. For example, we achieved 9 new positives from the sexual and social network of one non-suppressed client, as reflected on the next page.
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