Pettifor, Julien); University of the Witwatersrand (
Pettifor, Lippman, Chola, Wagner, Hove, Twine, Gómez-Olivé, Kabudula, Masilela, Kahn); University of California San Francisco (
Lippman, Leddy, West, Dufour); Sonke Gender Justice (
Peacock, Mathebula, Rebombo, Pino); Promundo (
Peacock); University of Cape Town School of Public Health (
Peacock); independent consultant (
Rebombo)
"The study demonstrated that shifts in views toward gender can be fostered in a meaningful way at the community level, and that such shifts may also provide an important boost at the individual level. Further, decreases in IPV [intimate partner violence] could be a path to testing for women and men."
In the global HIV field, policy and programme discussions increasingly recognise the importance of addressing harmful gender norms across the HIV care continuum. This Project SOAR (Supporting Operational AIDS Research) report summarises findings from a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of "Tsima ra rihanyu" ("working together for health"), a three-year (2015 to 2018) community mobilisation programme for treatment as prevention (CM for TasP) that aimed to address the social barriers to HIV testing and treatment in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. In this report, the authors explore the types of gender norms that are salient for women and men, how these relate to HIV testing and treatment, and the pathways through which gender norms operate to affect women's and men's HIV service use and experience and perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV).