Background
HIV testing behaviors, HIV infections
HIV INFECTIONS
Ending new HIV infections is a global priority, especially in sub-Saharan Africa [Despite the importance of knowledge about HIV prevention, knowledge levels remain low throughout sub-Saharan Africa [Although comprehensive HIV knowledge is low in Malawi and other African countries, there is evidence that interventions can increase HIV prevention knowledge. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the effect of HIV educational interventions in sub-Saharan Africa established that these interventions increased knowledge, and that peer-based and theoretically-grounded interventions were particularly effective in increasing HIV knowledge [To address this gap between intervention development and uptake, our research team conducted a hybrid effectiveness-implementation study testing whether community volunteers could implement an evidence-based peer group intervention for HIV prevention [We decided to test whether trained community volunteers could implement the The purpose of this report is to determine whether one of our primary effectiveness variables, HIV knowledge, increased when this peer group HIV prevention program was implemented by community volunteers in rural Malawi. Community-wide implementation of an efficacious intervention has high potential to change sexual risk and HIV testing behaviors, and thus reduce new HIV infections, without imposing new burdens on the health system.