Evaluating the impact of short term financial incentives on HIV and STI incidence among youth in Lesotho

We conducted a randomized controlled field trial to test whether short-term financial incentives have an impact on sexual behavior and the incidence of HIV and curable STIs among young people in Lesotho. The intervention linked eligibility to participate in a lottery to negative results for rapid tests for curable STIs: syphilis and Trichomonas vaginalis. The 3454 study participants were randomly allocated to two main arms: a treatment arm which is eligible to receive lottery tickets, and a control arm which is not. Both study arms received STI testing, counseling, and STI treatment at baseline and then every four months for two years. The treatment arm further allows sub-study of the effect of varying sizes of lottery prizes. Village level lotteries were organized every 4 months in which STI negative individuals from the treatment arm were eligible to participate. The study outcomes are HIV, syphilis and Trichomonas vaginalis incidence. Data analysis is currently finalized and preliminary results are encouraging, suggesting an impact of the intervention in significantly reducing HIV incidence, at least among females. The 2 year impact results will be available and fully analyzed by the time of the conference