Partner Notification Services in Kisii County, Kenya: Evaluating Behaviour Change Communication Strategies
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Date
2019
Authors
Maroko, Geoffrey Mokua
Mokua, Gladys Nyamoita
Nyakundi, Augustus Onchari
Onyambu, Meshack Ondora
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Asian Institute for Development Communication
Abstract
In the Eastern and Southern African region, between 40-50% of people living with HIV remain
undiagnosed. Partner Notification Services (PNS) programme was established to scale-up HIV testing
coverage. This paper describes the behaviour change communication strategies used to implement PNS;
and analyses HIV testing patterns arising from the implementation of PNS.Drawing data from
purposively selected respondents from three health facilities in Kisii County, the sequential mixed method
design was used to qualitatively analyse the views of providers of partner notification services on the
behaviour change communication strategies and to present a quantitative analysis of partner notification
trends in the year 2018.The results identified the following behaviour change communication strategies:
contract referral, provider referral, dual referral, passive referral, telephoning, the suggestion box, and
charts. Though the strategies have impacted HIV testing, inherent setbacks could slow down the process.
These include lack of prior assessment of the PNS policy environment, pre-requisite training and
adequate facilitation on communication strategies in PNS implementation. To increase HIV testing
coverage, the application of a mixture of the communication strategies rather than a mutually exclusive
process is critical.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Partner notification services, Behaviour change, Communication strategies, HIV testing, Contact
Citation
Maroko, G., Mokua, G., Nyakundi, A., & Onyambu, M. (2019). Partner Notification Services in Kisii County, Kenya. The Journal of Development Communication, 30(2), 45-59. Retrieved from http://jdc.journals.unisel.edu.my/ojs/index.php/jdc/article/view/156