Experts from India and around the world recently discussed new ways of carrying out HIV surveillance and making estimates on the HIV epidemic in India.
Opening the consultation, the Director General of Health Services of India, B.D. Athani, said, “Disease surveillance is the stethoscope of a public health professional and an extremely important public health function.”
The consultation heard about in-country pilot projects and other initiatives being planned. Steps being taken to strengthen the quality of data and enable their better use were highlighted, as were efforts that are being made to improve the interface between the various information systems for HIV surveillance.
Technical sessions on HIV surveillance, including the importance of integrated surveillance for HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis and syphilis, and on making HIV estimates were held throughout the four-day event.
“The use of data is fundamental to enabling an efficient and sustained public health response. Three questions remain critical in this regard: what data shall be collected, how it shall be collected and how it should be used to help the design and implementation of an effective response,” said S. Venkatesh, the Deputy Director General of the Indian National AIDS Control Programme.
During a session on making district-level HIV estimates, the different methods of how estimates could be made were examined. The participants agreed that, for inter-district comparability and consistency, just one method should be used to generate district estimates. Determining the best method would require further analysis of the strengths and limitations of all of them, however.
During the consultation, Bilali Camara, the UNAIDS Country Director for India, noted the importance for the AIDS response of having granular information on locations and populations.
A presentation on key population size estimates included a novel pilot for virtual mapping using social media in an ethical and cost-effective way, which was recognized as the methodology of the future. The consultation also heard that India should collect behavioural information through so-called polling booth surveys—whereby information on behaviours can be collected anonymously—and other innovative approaches.
Sessions on each of the technical areas began with international experts sharing the broad global framework and guidelines. They highlighted approaches adopted by different countries and the practical considerations for each approach. The participants agreed that data from surveillance, estimates and programmes represent different pieces of information that together provide a better perspective on the HIV epidemic and response—each piece is important and should not be seen in isolation.
The consultation was held on 21–24 March in New Delhi, India. It was organized by India’s National AIDS Control Organization in collaboration with UNAIDS, the World Health Organization and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose experts were joined by national experts from the Indian Council of Medical Research institutes and others. Recommendations from the consultation will be compiled into a road map for implementation by the National AIDS Control Programme.
