A Pilot Trial of an Unconditional Cash Transfer for Pregnant Women With HIV in Botswana

Poverty is an important contributor to poor short- and long-term HIV outcomes for pregnant women with HIV. This problem is salient in Botswana, where antenatal HIV prevalence is >20%. Poverty has been reported as a major barrier to sustained engagement in ART among pregnant women with HIV, and extreme poverty affects 15-20% of people in Botswana. Recent research in behavioral economics has shown that poverty can result in worse health outcomes by taxing mental bandwidth, resulting in a heightened focus on immediate needs and less attention to future-oriented decisions. Mental bandwidth is likely further taxed by the added burdens of HIV and the perinatal period. Consequently, anti-poverty interventions targeting pregnant women with HIV, such as cash transfers, may be particularly effective at improving health outcomes. However, equipoise remains about the role of cash transfers in HIV, with prior studies showing mixed results (e.g., HPTN068 showing no reduction in HIV incidence among school-aged girls receiving cash transfers in South Africa). In addition, there is a policy relevant question of whether and to what extent a pregnancy support grant could help improve outcomes.

In this study, we will conduct a pilot Hybrid Type 2 effectiveness-implementation trial of an unconditional cash transfer intervention for pregnant women with HIV. This research will be conducted at antenatal clinics managed by the District Health Management Teams in Gaborone (e.g., Old Naledi, Mafitlakgosi) and Mogoditsane-Thamaga District (e.g., Lesirane). It will be a collaboration between the University of Botswana and the University of Pennsylvania, through the Botswana-Upenn-Partnership. The study population will be comprised of pregnant women with HIV receiving antenatal care. We will enroll a total of 100 participants in their second trimester - 50 assigned to the usual care arm (standard social support), and 50 assigned to the intervention arm (the addition of 1000 BWP per month through 6 months post partum). All participants will complete study visits at baseline (Visit 1), late pregnancy prior to delivery (Visit 2), and 3-6 months post-partum (Visit 3). Data collected at study visits will include survey questionnaires, bandwidth assessments, and clinical data from the electronic health record database. During the final study visit, we will recruit 20 participants (15 intervention, 5 control; randomly selected) for individual qualitative interviews.

Primary outcomes will include mental bandwidth and ART adherence (effectiveness outcomes), and feasibility and acceptability of the intervention (implementation outcomes). These findings will be used as the basis for an NIH R01 proposal to conduct a larger trial of an unconditional cash transfer powered for clinical outcomes (e.g., postpartum viral suppression).