Cape Town — One of the crucial aspects of the largest HIV prevention trial in the world is nearing an end, with HIV counsellors wrapping up four years of door-to-door visits to many thousands of homes in and around Cape Town and the Winelands region. Over the past four years, 270 fieldworkers, known as the Community HIV Care Providers (CHiPS) have been door to door in the Western Cape as part of the Population Effects of Antiretroviral Therapy to Reduce HIV Transmission (HPTN 071 (PopART) trial. They complete their work in December. The HPTN 071 (PopART) study has involved about one million people across 21 communities in the Western Cape and Zambia. It was set up to determine the impact of a package of HIV prevention strategies on the transmission of HIV in communities. CHiPS, also known as HIV counsellors, offer HIV testing and counseling in people’s homes and actively refer HIV-positive clients to Department of Health clinics for HIV care and Antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. They provide condoms, test people for tuberculosis (TB), screen people for sexually transmitted infections and do the necessary referrals care and treatment for antenatal care, family planning and voluntary Medical Male Circumcision. The CHiPS have been widely recognized for the care, counseling and support they have shown to people across communities since the beginning of 2014. “They have been at the forefront of the HIV epidemic by going door-to-door to test people in the community for HIV. We applaud them for the tremendous work they have done,” said Blia Yang, Intervention Manager for the HPTN 071/PopART study in South Africa, which is based at the Desmond Tutu TB Centre (DTTC) at Stellenbosch University. PopART has been a collaboration between the DTTC, the communities in which they work, the Western Cape and City of Cape Town Health Departments and implementing partners, ANOVA, Kheth’Impilo and the South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union. This collaboration has ensured that clients get the treatment they need. Clinics connected to the trial have stepped up services to help cope with the higher number of people going to the clinics for HIV care and ARVs due to the PopART work in the communities. “Four years in the community was possible only due to their collaboration and support to end HIV,” said Yang. Tracey Naledi, Chief Director of Health Programmes for the Western Cape Department of Health, said the province had learnt valuable lessons from the trial. “We have learnt so much from what has come out of the implementation of the research study. We have learnt how to reach men better. We’ve learnt how to do community testing, and we are committing that as far as it is possible, the lessons that have come out of this process, we will incorporate in our daily business.” Karen Jennings Head HIV/STI/TB in the City of Cape Town’s Department of Health, said the PopART study had enabled CHiPS and clinic staff to “share the responsibility of caring for thousands of community members.”