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A new study published in BMJ Open proposes a couples-based intervention to help prevent HIV acquisition among pregnant and postpartum women in South Africa.

"Several years ago, we observed really high rates of HIV acquisition among women planning for pregnancy in South Africa, and over 90% of those women did not even know their partner's HIV status," says Lynn Matthews, M.D., M.P.H., a professor of medicine (infectious diseases) at Yale School of Medicine and corresponding author of the study.

"I've wanted to explore opportunities to work in South Africa to develop strategies to effectively counsel women around PrEP use, PrEP use during pregnancy and postpartum, and how to understand their vulnerability to HIV."

Matthews collaborated with first author Christina Psaros, Ph.D., of Harvard Medical School, and colleagues at MatCH Research Unit in Durban, South Africa, on a randomized controlled trial conducted from March to September 2026 in KwaZulu-Natal province.

The researchers enrolled 60 HIV-uninfected women in the third trimester of pregnancy and followed them into the postpartum period, along with their male partners. The pilot intervention was designed to support HIV testing, linkage to care and use of pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, a medicine people at risk for HIV take to prevent infection.

As part of the intervention, women received HIV self-testing kits to share with their partners. Women were encouraged to consider both their partner's test results and his response to the suggestion of testing for HIV when making decisions about PrEP use during pregnancy and postpartum.

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