South Africa - DREAMS baseline study in young men aged 20-29 years in rural KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, 2006-2015

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The datasets provided here were used for the publication: Baisley K, Chimbindi N, Mthiyane N, Floyd S, McGrath N, Pillay D, et al. High HIV incidence and low uptake of HIV prevention services: the context of risk for young male adults prior to DREAMS in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. PLOS ONE 2018 (add full citation when available). In this paper, we describe HIV incidence and uptake of HIV service by young men in KwaZulu-Natal, prior to the roll-out of the DREAMS. The DREAMS Partnership is an ambitious programme aimed at reduction HIV infection among young women through a combination HIV prevention package to target biological, behavioural, social and structural sources of risk. Whilst the main target population is adolescent girls and young women, the programme also aims to reduce the risk of HIV transmission from male partners. The study uses existing longitudinal data collected by Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI) (formally the Africa Centre for Health and Population studies), as part of their demographic surveillance system (DSS). The study uses annual anonymised HIV serosurvey data from 2006-2015, and results of the annual individual-level surveys in 2011 and 2015. The aim of the study was to describe trends in HIV incidence, and the uptake of HIV services (specifically, HIV testing and voluntary medical male circumcision) in a population-based sample of young men aged 20-29 years prior to DREAMS roll out in 2015. The study provides a baseline against which change can be measured after the implementation of DREAMS.

Survey data

For the individual survey data, each record is for a single participant in each year (2011 and 2015). For the HIV incidence data, there are multiple records for each participant in the serosurvey, representing episodes of residence within the DSS area.