Meeting the behavioural data collection needs of national HIV/AIDS and STD programmes

Changes in HIV infection rates over time have been hard to interpret in many contexts because programmes frequently lack complementary information on changes in behaviour. National prevention programmes are sometimes designed with only limited understanding of the size of various populations vulnerable to HIV and the nature and determinants of risk among them. The impacts of prevention programmes on behaviour often remain uncertain because behavioural data is not collected or is seriously incomplete.

Unless efforts are made to understand and quantify behaviours more thoroughly, it will not be possible to gauge who in the population is at risk of infection or to measure changes in behaviour that may increase or reduce people’s risk of and vulnerability to HIV. The result then, will be poor and inefficient use of available resources, producing responses with only limited effectiveness.

This document aims to describe the contribution behavioural data can make to the planning, execution, and monitoring of HIV prevention activities. It considers the available tools and recommends a minimum data collection package that varies according to the stage a country has reached in its HIV epidemic. The purpose of this document is to guide national programmes in setting up efficient behavioural assessment and monitoring programmes to assist them in programme design, direction, and evaluation.

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