Biobehavioral survey guidelines for populations at risk for HIV

Biobehavioural surveys (BBS) provide specific population-level estimates for the burden of HIV disease and HIV-related risk factors, and estimates for the coverage of prevention and treatment services for populations at increased risk for HIV. These key populations include men who have sex with men, sex workers, people who inject drugs, transgender individuals, prisoners and other vulnerable populations at increased risk for HIV infection. For many of these stigmatized and socially marginalized populations, there are no conventional sampling frames, meaning that complex sampling designs are needed for these populations. The most frequently used survey guidelines and tools to date are the Behavioral surveillance surveys, issued in 2000. However, new HIV prevention, care and treatment policies \u2013 coupled with the emergence of new data needs, methods and technologies \u2013 warranted a thorough update of the 2000 publication. Thus, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, FHI 360, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are publishing these new Biobehavioural survey guidelines for populations at risk for HIV. This revised publication outlines the latest approaches and methodologies, and includes updated questionnaires for planning and conducting BBS.The new BBS guidelines are a comprehensive resource that covers all survey aspects, from conceptualization, planning, undertaking and costing of the survey to dissemination of a report and use of data. The ultimate goal of these guidelines is to facilitate the collection of high-quality survey data for informed public health action.Funding to support this work is from the United States President\u2019s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.Suggested citation: WHO, CDC, UNAIDS, FHI 360. Biobehavioral survey guidelines for Populations at Risk for HIV. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2017. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo).978924151301