The 4 youth by youth HIV self-testing crowdsourcing contest: A qualitative evaluation

Abstract

IntroductionCrowdsourcing, a participatory approach to solicit ideas from a large group of diverse individuals, provides an opportunity to nurture youth participation in HIV self-testing service design. The objective of this study was to describe the responses to a crowdsourcing contest aimed at soliciting ideas on how to promote HIV self-testing (HIVST) among young people in Nigeria. MethodsThe "4 Youth by Youth" HIV Self-Testing Crowdsourcing contest was an online and off-line contest that asked Nigerian youth (10-24 years old) for ideas in response to the following: How might we promote HIVST among young people in Nigeria? All data were collected and analyzed between October 2018, and June 2019. Ideas and perceptions generated from the crowdsourcing contest were qualitatively analyzed using thematic content analysis. Specifically, four reviewers analyzed whether the ideas generated were desirable (appealing to young people), feasible (easy to implement) and impactful (will significantly influence HIVST uptake among young people). ResultsA total of 903 entries were received in response to the contest prompt. Participants submitted entries in various forms: online form (39.7%), offline Dropbox (44.6%), email (6.1%) and

Youth engagement in HIV prevention intervention research in sub‐Saharan Africa: a scoping review

“…Following our secondary search for studies that described the interventions identified, we found 27 additional manuscripts. Thus, the total number of manuscripts reviewed was 112 [19‐130]. These manuscripts described 74 unique intervention research studies (Table 1) […”

“…Both studies were conducted after 2010. We also assessed of the extent of youth engagement over time by comparing engagement in studies conducted in or before 2010 [19,20,22,23,25‐27,31,33,34,39‐41,45‐48,52‐54,59,60,66,68,72,73,77,78,80,82,83,88,89,109,115,121,130], to studies conducted after 2010 [21,24,28‐30,32,35‐37,42‐44,50,51,56‐58,60,62‐64,67,69‐71,75,76,79,81,84‐86,90,100,110,111,129]. We found youth engagement in 28 out of 37 interventions (76%) conducted in or before 2010, and in 30 out of 37 interventions (81%) conducted after 2010.…”

“…We identified two interventions with substantial youth engagement at the pre‐intervention phase of research (Figure 3) [20,21]. The first was a crowdsourcing open call for ideas on HIV self‐testing delivery methods focused on engaging youth [21]. In the second study, street‐connected youth peer educators initiated and planned a programme of activities within their Non‐Governmental Organization (NGO) including regular HIV prevention clubs, individual counselling and seminars, with support from NGO staff.…”

Preparing for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Self-Testing Implementation: Lessons Learned From HIV Self-Testing

“…Global efforts and collaborations between WHO, researchers, local health agencies, donors, and policy makers have addressed some of these limitations. Initiatives such as but not limited to the Self- T esting A f R ica (STAR), the largest HIVST implementation science project to date ( 44 ), 4 Youth by Youth crowdsourced HIVST interventions ( 45 , 46 ), and S elf- T esting E ducation and P romotion (STEP) project ( 28 , 33 ), have created a market for HIVST in sub-Saharan Africa. These initiatives combined with other studies around the globe have accelerated access to HIVST by gathering the necessary acceptability, feasibility, and fidelity data, creating an enabling environment with regards to HIVST policies, generating diverse demand through multiple distribution channels, and creating advocacy for additional financing, as well as accelerate market entry for suppliers at affordable and sustainable prices ( 44 , 45 , 47 – 49 ).…”

“…Initiatives such as but not limited to the Self- T esting A f R ica (STAR), the largest HIVST implementation science project to date ( 44 ), 4 Youth by Youth crowdsourced HIVST interventions ( 45 , 46 ), and S elf- T esting E ducation and P romotion (STEP) project ( 28 , 33 ), have created a market for HIVST in sub-Saharan Africa. These initiatives combined with other studies around the globe have accelerated access to HIVST by gathering the necessary acceptability, feasibility, and fidelity data, creating an enabling environment with regards to HIVST policies, generating diverse demand through multiple distribution channels, and creating advocacy for additional financing, as well as accelerate market entry for suppliers at affordable and sustainable prices ( 44 , 45 , 47 – 49 ). Similar initiatives are needed swiftly to gather additional accuracy, acceptability, feasibility, and programmatic data to encourage policy makers, donors, and local health agencies to support for SARS-CoV-2ST implementation and scale up.…”