INTRODUCTION
VIRUS
The risk of HIV acquisition varies widely between countries in the same region, between communities within the same country and between individuals within the same community. Understanding factors that influence HIV acquisition at the individual level has been an important focus of research since the beginning of the HIV epidemic, leading to the development and testing of successful interventions to reduce the risk of acquisition for individuals [The risk of HIV transmission through sex is negligible when people with HIV are on antiretroviral therapy (ART) with undetectable viral loads (i.e. “undetectable equals untransmittable, U = U”) [Here, we leveraged data from the PopART trial to identify community‐level predictors of HIV incidence across the 21 study communities. We examined the association of HIV incidence with community‐level measures reflecting the demographic, sexual behaviour and socio‐economic make‐up of each community. We also assessed the association between prevalence of detectable virus (PDV) and HIV incidence. Lastly, for a more comprehensive understanding of HIV risk during the implementation of the PopART intervention, we evaluated individual‐level factors associated with HIV risk.