Open AccessOptimizing the implementation of integrated biological and behavioural surveillance surveys of HIV in resource limited settings-lessons from Nepal
Author(s) -
Keshab Deuba,
Biwesh Ojha,
Rachana Manandhar Shrestha,
Anna Mia Ekström,
Gaetano Marrone,
Naresh Pratap Kc,
Deepak Kumar Karki
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
asian pacific journal of tropical disease
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.208
H-Index - 33
ISSN - 2222-1808
DOI - 10.1016/s2222-1808(14)60688-5
Subject(s) - respondent , cluster sampling , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , proxy (statistics) , resource (disambiguation) , sampling frame , survey data collection , survey methodology , data collection , cluster (spacecraft) , sampling (signal processing) , environmental resource management , geography , medicine , environmental health , computer science , political science , family medicine , population , sociology , statistics , social science , computer network , mathematics , pathology , filter (signal processing) , machine learning , law , computer vision , environmental science , programming language
Objective: To discuss the basic standards for HIV related integrated biological and behavioural\udsurveillance (IBBS) survey implementation, specific challenges of survey management, and to\udpropose brief practical guidelines for management of IBBS surveys in resource limited setting.\udMethods: Two methods were used to address our study objectives: (a) a narrative review of\udthe literature and (b) our experience as participant observer when working on IBBS survey\udmanagement between July 2012 and January 2013 in Nepal.\udResults: In Nepal, IBBS surveys are conducted among key populations at higher risk of HIV\udsuch as people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men, female sex workers, seasonal\udmale labour migrants and truckers (proxy for clients of female sex workers). The involvement\udof different institutions, people, and procedures makes IBBS survey management-including\udplanning, implementation, sharing of findings and possible uses of survey findings-complicated\udto perform. In addition, basic survey methods and techniques including respondent driven\udsampling and two stage cluster sampling, are sometimes not properly performed in practice.\udConclusions: This study showed that field implementation of some standards methods such as\udrespondent driven sampling and cluster sampling for HIV related estimate or trends used for IBBS\udsurvey could be improved. This paper described lessons learnt and may be used as a guiding\udreference to improve and evaluate IBBS surveys in resource-poor settings also outside of Nepal