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Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics (CHIBE)
  1. Research

Publications

Take a look at CHIBE’s publications, which are helping advance the science of using behavioral economics to improve health and leading to discoveries around how our minds work.

Systematic dissemination of study findings from local to national stakeholders: a case of a social network-based study on HIV self-testing and linkage among fishermen in Kenya

SAHARA-J: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS
July 29, 2026
Benard O. Ayieko, Edwin D. Charlebois, Lila A. Sheira, Sarah A. Gutin, Phoebe Olugo, Jayne Lewis-Kulzer, Zachary A. Kwena, Harsha Thirumurthy, Kawango Agot, Carol S. Camlin

Effectiveness of interventions to promote couples-based HIV testing and family health during pregnancy and postpartum in Kenya: a multicentre, couples-based, randomised controlled trial

The Lancet HIV
June 29, 2026
Janet M. Turan; Zachary A. Kwena; Kevin Owuor; Anna Helova; Abigail M. Hatcher; Thomas M. Braun; Evelyne Owengah; Moses Okombo; Van T. Nghiem; Harsha Thirumurthy; Elizabeth A. Bukusi; Lynae A. Darbes

Improving access to essential medicines via decision-aware machine learning

Nature
May 29, 2026
Angel Tsai-Hsuan Chung; Jatu Abdulai; Patrick Bayoh; Lawrence Sandi; Francis Smart; Hamsa Bastani; Osbert Bastani

A megastudy of behavioral interventions to promote frequent HIV testing among adults at high risk of HIV infection in Kenya and Uganda: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Trials
May 21, 2026
Kara Marson, Jane Kabami, Alison M. Buttenheim, Daniel Bennett, Maya L. Petersen, Diane V. Havlir, Moses R. Kamya, James Ayieko, Harsha Thirumurthy, Gabriel Chamie

Understanding HIV Vaccine Misinformation and Vaccine Intentions Among Young Women in South Africa: Insights from an Online Survey

AIDS and Behavior
April 21, 2026
Brendan Maughan-Brown, Teniola I. Egbe, Simamkele Bokolo, Megan Rabin, Candice Chetty-Makkan, Melanie Kornides, Lawrence Long, Sophie Pascoe, Sarah Penuela-Wermers, Sander van der Linden, Harsha Thirumurthy, Alison M. Buttenheim

Hazardous alcohol use is associated with sexual behaviors that increase risk for HIV acquisition among fishermen in a high HIV prevalence area of Kenya

AIDS Care
March 17, 2026
Sarah A. Gutin, Holly Nishimura, Benard Ayieko, Lila A. Sheira, Zachary A. Kwena, Jayne Lewis-Kulzer, Elizabeth A. Bukusi, Harsha Thirumurthy, Edwin D. Charlebois, Carol S. Camlin

Understanding HIV Vaccine Misinformation and Vaccine Intentions Among Young Women in South Africa: Insights from an Online Survey

AIDS and Behavior
March 14, 2026
Brendan Maughan-Brown, Teniola I. Egbe, Simamkele Bokolo, Megan Rabin, Candice Chetty-Makkan, Melanie Kornides, Lawrence Long, Sophie Pascoe, Sarah Penuela-Wermers, Sander van der Linden, Harsha Thirumurthy, Alison M. Buttenheim

Characterising concerns and misinformation shaping global HIV vaccine confidence and demand: a structured literature search and content analysis

BMJ Global Health
January 8, 2026
Simamkele Bokolo, Megan Rabin, Sarah Penuela-Wermers, Candice Maylene Chetty-Makkan, Teniola I. Egbe, Harsha Thirumurthy, Brendan Maughan-Brown, Alison Buttenheim

Point-of-sale sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) warning posters vs. control posters were associated with reductions in school store SSB purchases made by Guatemalan adolescents

Public Health Nutrition
January 2, 2026
Violeta Chacón, Joaquín Barnoya, Laura A. Gibson, Sophia Mus, José Carlos Monzón Fuentes, Alisa Stephens, Marsha Trego, Caitlin Lowery, Christina D. Economos, Alison Tovar, Sara Folta, Christina A. Roberto

“You could hear their breathing slow down”: insights on a video-based psychosocial support intervention to increase HIV treatment uptake and improve psychosocial well-being among men living with HIV in South Africa

AIDS Care
December 21, 2025
Brendan Maughan-Brown, Mamaswatsi Kopeka, Harsha Thirumurthy, Alison Buttenheim, Mark Lurie, Elzette Rousseau, Philip Smith, Linda-Gail Bekker & Abigail Harrison

The effects of government-led cash transfer programmes on behavioural and health determinants of mortality: a difference-in-differences study

The Lancet
November 10, 2025
Aaron Richterman, MD; Tra-My Ngoc Bùi, BA; Elizabeth F Bair, MS; Gregory Jerome, MD; Christophe Millien, MD; Jean Christophe Dimitri Suffrin, MMSc; Prof Jere R Behrman, PhD; Prof Harsha Thirumurthy, PhD

Money, Medicine, and Motherhood: Developing a Cash Transfer for Pregnant Women with HIV in Rural Haiti

AIDS and Behavior
November 6, 2025
Aaron Richterman, Sindy Desire, Wendel Blaise, Elyse Derose, Alexis Moise, Lisa P Ward, Christophe Millien, Harsha Thirumurthy, Florence Momplaisir, Louise C Ivers

Twitter reveals spatio-temporal variation in vaccine concerns in Sub-Saharan Africa

Preprint
October 20, 2025
Devansh Jain, Sunny Rai, Juhi Mittal, Anietie Andy, Alison M. Buttenheim, Sharath Chandra Guntuku

“I wish someone else could notify the partner”: Barriers to STI partner notification identified and experienced by young women and health care workers in Cape Town, South Africa

Frontiers
September 8, 2025
Fiona Bennin; Siyaxolisa Sindelo; Nomsa B. Mahlalela; Alison Buttenheim; Teniola Egbe; Prisca Vundhla; Pamela Fuzile; Mbali Jonas; Preethi Mistri; Brendan Maughan-Brown; Elzette Rousseau

Behaviourally-Informed Two-Way Text Messaging to Improve Return to HIV Care in South Africa: Evidence from a Randomised Controlled Trial

AIDS and Behavior
July 11, 2025
Christine Njuguna, Preethi Mistri, Lawrence Long, Candice Chetty-Makkan, Brendan Maughan-Brown, Alison Buttenheim, Laura Schmucker, Sophie Pascoe, Harsha Thirumurthy, Cara O'Connor, Barry Mutasa, Kate Rees

Does home-based screening improve hypertension diagnosis, treatment and control? A regression discontinuity analysis in urban India

BMJ Global Health
June 13, 2025
Michaela Theilmann, Sneha Sarah Mani, Pascal Geldsetzer, Shivani A Patel, Mohammed K Ali, Harsha Thirumurthy, K M Venkat Narayan, Viswanathan Mohan, Nikhil Tandon, Dorairaj Prabhakaran, Nikkil Sudharsanan