{"doi":"10.1371/journal.pone.0259508","title":"Feasibility of oral HIV self-testing in female sex workers in Gaborone, Botswana","abstract":"BACKGROUND: Oral HIV self-testing (HIVST) may be useful for increasing testing in persons at elevated risk of acquiring HIV. METHODS: We conducted a pilot study to evaluate the feasibility (defined by uptake) of HIVST among FSW in Gaborone, Botswana. FSW age 18 years and above were recruited through a non-governmental organization serving FSW. FSW with unknown or negative HIV status at screening performed HIVST in the study clinic following brief training. FSW testing HIV-negative were each given two test kits to take home: one kit to perform unassisted HIVST and another to share with others. Feasibility (use) of HIVST (and sharing of test kits with others) was assessed in these women at a study visit four months later. RESULTS: Two hundred FSW were screened. Their average age was 34 years (range 18-59), and 115 (58%) were HIV-positive. Eighty-five (42%) tested HIV-negative at entry and were eligible to take part in the HIVST pilot study. All 85 (100%) agreed to take home HIVST kits. Sixty-nine (81%) of these 85 participants had a follow-up visit, 56 (81%) of whom reported performing HIVST at a mean of three and half months after the initial visit. All 56 participants who performed HIVST reported negative HIVST results. Fifty (73%) of the 69 participants who took HIVST kits home shared them with others. Of the 50 women sharing HIVST kits, 25 (50%) shared with their non-client partners, 15 with a family member, 8 with friends, and 3 with a client. One participant did not test herself but shared both her test kits. Most participants 53/56 (95%) found oral HIVST very easy to use whilst 3/56 (5%) felt it was fairly easy. CONCLUSION: Oral HIVST is feasible among FSW in Gaborone, Botswana. The majority of FSW used the HIVST kits themselves and also shared extra HIVST kits with other individuals.","journal":"PLoS ONE","year":2021,"id":206355,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":6,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9625,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":330584,"name":"Laura M. Bogart","orcid":"0000-0003-3182-5542","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":477883,"name":"Kutlo Manyake","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":476571,"name":"Charlotte Mdluli","orcid":"0009-0009-0079-3390","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":477884,"name":"Kamogelo Maribe","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":477885,"name":"Neo Monnapula","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":477886,"name":"Bornapate Nkomo","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":393321,"name":"Mosepele Mosepele","orcid":"0000-0002-6051-0999","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":425983,"name":"Sikhulile Moyo","orcid":"0000-0003-3821-4592","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":375106,"name":"Mompati Mmalane","orcid":null,"position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":22379,"name":"Till Bärnighausen","orcid":"0000-0002-4182-4212","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":393322,"name":"Joseph Makhema","orcid":"0000-0003-0017-2438","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":257497,"name":"Shahin Lockman","orcid":"0000-0002-5384-9716","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":476570,"name":"Emily Shava","orcid":"0000-0001-9288-7881","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":48,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:51:41.571653Z","pmid":"34748576","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}