Monitoring and Evaluation of HIV/AIDS Prevention Programs

Monitoring and evaluation of HIV occurrence and responses allow countries to track the epidemic and their prevention and control efforts. Scientists use standardized indicators to assess progress and challenges over time and make cross-national comparisons. Governments and international donors in Sub-Saharan Africa are giving increasing attention to the need to develop effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) programs to provide reliable data in a timely fashion that can guide and help to improve programs. Spending on the various national programs and initiatives in different SubSaharanAfrican countries, ranging from $12.0 million in Madagascar to $2.09 billion in South Africa in 2009, is largely determined by the stage and intensity of the epidemic, health policy, national resources, and donor support (UNAIDS 2010a). These massive inputs and the colossal and urgent needs at hand make systematic monitoring and evaluation of control and prevention of HIV infection and AIDS patient care programs critical to maximizing their cost effectiveness, particularly in resource-poor countries (World Bank 2006). HIV prevention programs in particular may benefit from improved M&E systems because spending commitment and funding for prevention has failed to keep up with spending on AIDS treatment (Carty and Nieburg 2010; Henderson et al. 2009). In addition, current emphasis in HIV prevention on combined biomedical, behavioral, and structural approaches (see Chapter 8) requires accurate, appropriate, timely, and evidence-based information that M&E systems can provide.