Women promoters: An effective social mobilization strategy to attract female clients to mobile HIV counseling and testing (MHCT) services

Background: The USAID-funded Private Health Sector Program (PHSP) supports MHCT services to reach the most at risk populations (MARPs) for HIV infection in 29 towns of Ethiopia. PHSP implements various social mobilization activities, including car announcements, leaflet distribution, mass-media efforts and home visits by women promoters (WP). The goal is to identify MARPs and mobilize them to seek MHCT services. Methods: Quantitative data was collected from 29 towns in Ethiopia from April-October 2010. The objective of the study was to assess the effectiveness of social mobilization strategies to influence female clients to seek MHCT. A total of 38,442 clients were tested; 44.2% were female. A quantitative analysis using SPSS 16.0 was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of different social mobilization strategies implemented. Results: Of the strategies implemented, peer mobilization with WPs was most effective in mobilizing female clients. Approximately 58.3% of the total women tested came to MHCT centers because they were mobilized by WPs, as compared to car announcements (31.8%) or mass media (5.6%). The WPs were also successful in identifying and mobilizing female MARPs. Approximately 69% of commercial sex workers and 67% of women ages 30-34 sought MHCT services because of WPs. Conclusions: Peer mobilization of female MARPs to seek MHCT services is more effective compared to mass communication methods. Using peer promoters from the same community who are respected and have strong social networking skills has a positive influence in identifying and mobilizing MARPs to seek MHCT. This approach should be replicated in future MHCT outreach efforts.