MASLIHAT Peer Intervention Impact on HIV Testing Among Female Sex Partners of Male Tajik Migrants in Moscow Who Inject Drugs

The program Migrants' Approached Self-Learning Intervention in HIV/AIDS for Tajiks (MASLIHAT) trains male Tajik migrants who inject drugs in delivering HIV prevention information within their diaspora social networks. This analysis examines the indirect effect of the intervention on HIV testing among the participants' regular female sex partners. Modified mixed-effects Poisson regression analyses compared the proportions of participants with a regular female sex partner in the MASLIHAT versus the TANSIHAT control condition who reported that their partner had been tested for HIV. Of the 420 participants, 108 (26%) reported having a regular female sex partner. Regression analyses indicated that HIV partner testing increased significantly in both conditions over the follow-up period, with MASLIHAT participants reporting a higher rate at 12 months than the TANSIHAT control group (IRR = 1.66, 95% CI [1.21, 2.28]). The MAS-LIHAT intervention increased female partner HIV testing over 12 months when compared to a non-HIV focused health education intervention.