Next T starts prototyping and testing solutions in Tanzania

The Next T project in Tanzania seeks to research and develop new HIV testing services and care models for adolescents using human-centered design. We are now starting the prototyping and testing of three solutions together with our local partners.

To arrive at the solution concepts, the Next T project has gone through a year’s worth of design research and co-creation – all done in collaboration with local partners and adolescents. A myriad of solution ideas emerged from these phases, three of which we have further refined into the concepts we are now prototyping and testing.

The first solution, the Mindshape Screening Tool, uses a hybrid behavioural-psychographic approach to segment populations based on their barriers to testing, linkage and adherence. The segmentation will allow programmes to target people with differentiated information, services, and programmes based on their ‘mindshape’ and may lead to better outcomes along the HIV cascade. The Mindshape Model itself categorises clients based on the different barriers they face in their journey towards testing, getting linked to care and adhering to medication.

The second solution, also based on the Mindshape Model, aims to improve HIV counselling, which is meant to improve linkage to care and adherence to medication. The solution will enable the counsellor to understand and address individual client fears, and empower each individual by providing them with accessible information about their prospective testing journey.

The fear of HIV stigma is one of the key barriers keeping people from testing. The third solution is a creative communication prototype that leverages local creative influencers to enrol a new generation into a movement meant to show support, solidarity and inclusivity for people living with HIV in existing social contexts. The approach will utilise Tanzanian creative influencers to attempt to reframe the stigmatisation of people living with HIV as un-Tanzanian discrimination.

In the coming months, the Next T team will work closely with partners in Tanzania to test the solutions, gather data and generate compelling evidence around the efficacy of the three interventions.