Augustine Choko

Biographic Data

ID217679
NAMEAugustine Choko
GIVEN NAMESAugustine
FAMILY NAMEChoko
SIGNATURECHOKO A
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of Liverpool
ORCID0000-0001-6095-9430
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS19
TOTAL CITATIONS1
AUTHOR COUNT19
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2011
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX1

  • Implementation of male-specific motivational interviewing in Malawi

    Open AccessKatherine Ničev Holland, Julie Hubbard et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2026

    INTRODUCTION: Treatment interruption (TI), defined as >28 days late for antiretroviral therapy appointment, is one of the greatest challenges in controlling southern African HIV epidemics. Negative client-provider interactions remain a major reason for TI and a barrier to return to care, especially for men. Motivational interviewing (MI) facilitates client-driven counselling and improves client-provider interactions by facilitating equitable, int…

  • A context-responsive health systems intervention improves the uptake of early infant HIV diagnosis

    Open AccessLeticia Chimwemwe Suwedi-Kapesa, Augustine Choko et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2026

    Health system challenges limit uptake of early infant diagnosis of HIV (EID). Context-appropriate strategies are required to achieve global 95% six-week testing target. We evaluated a co-designed context-appropriate enhanced health system (EEHS) intervention to strengthen client identification, appointment booking systems, leadership, and facility-based training to improve enrolment of Infants Exposed to HIV (IEH) in HIV care and testing at six w…

  • The influence of social networks in adoption of integrated health interventions

    Open AccessMadalo Mukoka, Owen Mhango et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    Introduction Social networks play a vital role in influencing individual and collective health behaviors and facilitating the diffusion of health interventions. Fishing communities in sub-Saharan Africa face socio-cultural and occupational challenges such as low literacy rates and high mobility. However, their high social cohesion creates a unique social environment for spreading health interventions. We explored the role of social relationships …

  • Developing an intervention to improve early infant HIV diagnosis service uptake among postpartum women in Malawi’s primary healthcare using a co-designing approach with stakeholders

    Open AccessLeticia Chimwemwe Suwedi-Kapesa, Augustine Choko et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    Low health service use by women and infants after birth limits early infant HIV diagnosis (EID). From August 2021 to December 2022, we collaborated with 44 healthcare workers (HCW), service users, and non-governmental organisation stakeholders from seven public facilities and five non-governmental organisations in Blantyre, building on a previous study. We analysed context-specific problems in EID services and co-designed a context-appropriate en…

  • Provider costs of professional Covid-19 rapid antigen testing in low-income settings

    Open AccessCollin Mangenah, Lucky G Ngwira et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    World Health Organization recommends antigen rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) as point of care tests for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in suspected outbreaks when polymerase-chain-reaction testing is not accessible; to trace the extent of outbreaks; and in areas with widespread community transmission. Annual economic costs were estimated for professional SARS-CoV-2 testing as part of several COVID-19 testing use cases i…

  • Covid-19 diagnosis within five days of symptoms onset among healthcare workers in Malawi; Non-randomized control trial of self-testing using Ag-RDTs

    Open AccessChimwemwe Kwanjo Banda, Wezzie Lora et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    Efficient and sustainable models of Corona Virus Disease of 2019 (COVID‐19) screening among healthcare workers (HCWs) such as self-testing are essential for averting transmission within and outside health care facilities. We compared the number of confirmed early COVID‐19 positive diagnoses (defined as COVID‐19 cases diagnosed within five days of symptoms onset) among HCW in self-testing arm using Antigen Rapid Diagnostic Test kits (Ag-RDT) and s…

  • Understanding the acceptability of Covid-19 antigen rapid diagnostic tests

    Open AccessWezzie Lora, Wezzie S Lora et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    Accessible and timely diagnostic testing was essential during the COVID-19 pandemic to control the virus’s spread and mitigate severe outcomes. However, real-time polymerase chain reaction tests, although sensitive incur high costs and prolonged turnaround times, and face implementation challenges in many resource-constrained settings. Antigen rapid diagnostic tests (Ag-RDT), which can be administered either by providers or as self-tests, are acc…

  • Concentrations of potentially toxic metals and trace elements in pregnant women and association with birth outcomes

    Open AccessMphatso Mwapasa, Shanshan Xu et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2024

    Potentially toxic metals and trace elements have been used in Malawi for a long time. However, data on exposure to these elements by susceptible groups like pregnant women and its associations with reproductive health outcomes in Malawi and southern hemisphere is limited. We investigated the concentrations of potentially toxic metals as well as trace elements in pregnant women and assessed the relationship between the levels these elements in mat…

  • Collecting mortality data via mobile phone surveys

    Open AccessMichael Chasukwa, Augustine Choko et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2022

    Despite the urgent need for timely mortality data in low-income and lower-middle-income countries, mobile phone surveys rarely include questions about recent deaths. Such questions might a) be too sensitive, b) take too long to ask and/or c) generate unreliable data. We assessed the feasibility of mortality data collection using mobile phone surveys in Malawi. We conducted a non-inferiority trial among a random sample of mobile phone users. Parti…

  • Understanding the Unique Barriers and Facilitators that Affect Men’s Initiation and Retention in HIV Care

    Open AccessKate Coursey, Khumbo Phiri et al.ARTICLEAIDS and Behavior2022

    Men in sub-Saharan Africa are underrepresented in antiretroviral therapy (ART) programs. Our secondary analysis of 40 in-depth interviews with Malawian men living with HIV examined barriers and facilitators for ART initiation versus retention. Interviewees included men who never initiated or initiated ART late (initiation respondents, n = 19); and men who initiated ART but were late for an appointment (retention respondents, n = 21). Transcribed …

  • Costs of integrating HIV self-testing in public health facilities in Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe

    Open AccessLinda Sande, Linda Alinafe Sande et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2021

    INTRODUCTION: As countries approach the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets, there is a need for innovative and cost-saving HIV testing approaches that can increase testing coverage in hard-to-reach populations. The HIV Self-Testing Africa-Initiative distributed HIV self-test (HIVST) kits using unincentivised HIV testing counsellors across 31 public facilities in Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. HIVST was distributed either through secondary (partn…

  • Men’s comfort in distributing or receiving HIV self-test kits from close male social network members in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

    Open AccessJoseph K B Matovu, Gaspar Mbita et al.ARTICLEBMC Public Health2021

    Overall, these findings suggest that distribution of HIV self-test kits through close male friends could improve the proportion of men reached with HIV self-testing services and improve HIV testing rates in this population where uptake remains low. However, additional promotional strategies such as peer-led HIV self-testing education are needed to raise awareness and increase the proportion of men who are comfortable to receive and/or distribute …

  • Too old to test?’

    Open AccessCheryl Johnson, Moses Kumwenda et al.ARTICLEBMC Public Health2021

    Characteristics associated with age-gender norms and social position encourage self-testing but drive poor HIV-risk perception and unacceptability of conventional HIV testing in midlife-older adults. There is an urgent need to provide targeted messages and services more appropriate to midlife-older adults in sub-Saharan Africa. HIVST which has often been highlighted as a tool for reaching young people, may be a valuable tool for engaging midlife-…

  • Socio-cultural and economic barriers, and facilitators influencing men’s involvement in antenatal care including HIV testing

    Open AccessDoreen Sakala, Moses Kumwenda et al.ARTICLEBMC Public Health2021

    Peer and economic influences were the most influential barriers of men attending ANC and testing for HIV with their pregnant partners. Addressing these socio-economic barriers and having a male friendly clinic are promising interventions to promote male ANC attendance in this setting

  • Use and awareness of and willingness to self-test for HIV

    Open AccessCheryl Johnson, Melissa Neuman et al.ARTICLEBMC Public Health2020

    In 2015-16, many Malawian and Zimbabwean men had never tested for HIV. Despite low awareness and minimal HIVST experience, willingness to self-test was high among Zimbabwean men, especially older men with moderate-to-high HIV-related sexual risk. These data provide a valuable baseline against which to investigate population-level uptake of HIVST as programmes scale up. Programmes introducing, or planning to introduce, HIVST should consider includ…

  • Discordance, Disclosure and Normative Gender Roles

    Open AccessMoses Kumwenda, Moses Kelly Kumwenda et al.ARTICLEAIDS and Behavior2018

    A community-based HIV self-testing study in Blantyre, Malawi demonstrated that not all individuals living in couples tested with their partner. We describe factors dissuading individuals in couples from self-testing with their partner. Data were drawn from qualitative study exploring consequences of HIV self-testing within couples. In-depth interviews were conducted with 33 individuals living in couples who tested alone. Participants expressed fe…

  • Uptake, Accuracy, Safety, and Linkage into Care over Two Years of Promoting Annual Self-Testing for HIV in Blantyre, Malawi

    Open AccessAugustine Choko, Augustine T Choko et al.ARTICLEPLoS Medicine2015

    BACKGROUND: Home-based HIV testing and counselling (HTC) achieves high uptake, but is difficult and expensive to implement and sustain. We investigated a novel alternative based on HIV self-testing (HIVST). The aim was to evaluate the uptake of testing, accuracy, linkage into care, and health outcomes when highly convenient and flexible but supported access to HIVST kits was provided to a well-defined and closely monitored population. METHODS AND…

  • Whose failure counts?' A critical reflection on definitions of failure for community health volunteers providing HIV self-testing in a community-based HIV/TB intervention study in urban Malawi

    Open AccessRodrick Sambakunsi, Moses Kumwenda et al.ARTICLEAnthropology and Medicine2015Cited by: 1References: 28

    The category of community health worker applied within the context of health intervention trials has been promoted as a cost-effective approach to meeting study objectives across large populations, relying on the promotion of the concept of 'community belonging' to encourage altruistic volunteerism from community members to promote health. This community-based category of individuals is recruited to facilitate externally driven priorities defined…

  • The Uptake and Accuracy of Oral Kits for HIV Self-Testing in High HIV Prevalence Setting

    Open AccessAugustine Choko, Augustine Talumba Choko et al.ARTICLEPLoS Medicine2011

    BACKGROUND: Although HIV testing and counseling (HTC) uptake has increased dramatically in Africa, facility-based services are unlikely to ever meet ongoing need to the full. A major constraint in scaling up community and home-based HTC services is the unacceptability of receiving HTC from a provider known personally to prospective clients. We investigated the potential of supervised oral HIV self-testing from this perspective. METHODS AND FINDIN…