What did the researchers do and find?
death
The PEBRA (Peer Educator Based Refill of ART) care model was developed during a series of formative workshops in close collaboration with peer educators (PEs), young people living with HIV, youth activists, clinicians, and young mobile application developers, focussing on rural health clinics in Lesotho.In the PEBRA model, a PE regularly assessed service preferences of his/her peers regarding medication pick-up, short message service (SMS) notifications, and psychosocial support and delivered services accordingly.This cluster-randomized trial compared PEBRA model versus standard clinic care (no PE-coordinated care) in 3 districts in Lesotho.At 12 months, 66% and 61% participants in the intervention and control arm, respectively, achieved viral suppression with no significant difference between arms.We found that arms were similar in terms of engagement in care, transfer out, self-reported adherence, quality of life (QoL), and satisfaction with care. Four and 1 death occurred in intervention and control arm, respectively.