Reaching marginalized young women for HIV prevention in Botswana: a pilot social network analysis

Almost one-fifth of Botswana’s population is infected with HIV. The Inter-Ministerial National Structural Intervention Trial is a trial to test the impact on HIV rates of a structural intervention that refocuses government structural support programs in favor of young women. Ensuring that the intervention reaches all vulnerable young women in any given community is a challenge. Door-to-door recruitment was inefficient in previous work, so we explored innovative ways to reach this population. We sought to understand the support networks of marginalized young women, and to test the possibility of using social networks to support universal recruitment in this population. Ego-centric and sociometric analyses were used to describe the support networks of marginalized young women. Marginalized young women go to other women and relatives for support, and they communicate face to face rather than using social media. Network maps show how young women were connected to each other. Lessons from the pilot include a better understanding of how to use social networks as a recruitment method, such as the time required and the types of community members that can help. Social networks could help reach other hard-to-reach populations.