LAUSR

BACKGROUND The World Health Organization recommends that persons diagnosed with HIV be offered assisted partner notification services (APS). There are limited data on the safety of APS as implemented in public health programs. SETTING 3 public health centers in Maputo, Mozambique, 2016-2019. METHODS Counselors offered APS to persons with newly diagnosed HIV and, as part of a program evaluation, prospectively assessed the occurrence of adverse events (AEs), including 1) pushing, abandonment, or yelling; 2) being hit; and 3) loss of financial support or being expelled from the house. RESULTS 18,965 persons tested HIV positive in the three clinics, 13,475 (71%) were evaluated for APS eligibility, 9,314 were eligible and offered APS, and 9,219 received APS. Index cases (ICs) named 8,933 partners without a prior HIV diagnosis, of whom 6,137 tested and 3,367 (55%) were diagnosed with HIV (case-finding index=0.36). APS counselors collected follow-up data from 6,680 (95%) of 7,034 index cases who had untested partners that were subsequently notified; 78 (1.2%) experienced an AE. Among 270 ICs who reported a fear of AEs at their initial APS interview, 211 (78%) notified >1 sex partner, of whom 5 (2.4%) experienced an AE. Experiencing an AE was associated with fear of loss of support (OR 4.28 95% CI 1.50-12.19) and having a partner who was notified but not tested (OR 3.47 95% CI 1.93-6.26). CONCLUSION Case-finding through APS in Mozambique is high and AEs following APS are uncommon. Most ICs with a fear of AEs still elect to notify partners with few experiencing AEs.