National Assessment of HIV/AIDS Surveillance Capacity and Training

Background: In August 2007, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) HIV/AIDS Consultancy Team administered the National Assessment of HIV/AIDS Surveillance Capacity and Training. The assessment tool was designed to identify the program structure, capacity, resources, and practices of surveillance programs nationwide.

Methods: A joint workgroup composed of a State Epidemiologist, HIV/AIDS surveillance coordinators, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) representatives developed and administered an online assessment. The assessment was completed by HIV/AIDS surveillance program coordinators for each of the 64 CDC-funded jurisdictions (50 state health departments), seven large-city health departments, and seven U.S. territories.

Results: The assessment was administered to all 64 CDC-funded HIV/AIDS surveillance programs; 89% responded to the assessment. The burden of HIV disease varies widely across funded sites, ranging from 11 to over 7,000 newly diagnosed HIV/AIDS cases. In 2005, surveillance programs received and average funding award of $608,591.02 to conduct Core HIV/AIDS surveillance activities. On average, surveillance programs have 7 FTEs funded to conduct Core HIV/AIDS surveillance activities. In regards to enhancing the overall skills of the surveillance program staff, 46% of programs stated that they were not able to acquire necessary resources for the past 12 month.

Conclusion: The HIV capacity assessment of CDC-funded HIV/AIDS surveillance sites is the first of its kind. The assessment results will help increase our understanding of HIV surveillance activities nationwide. CSTE will articulate, in greater detail, the resources needed to meet increasing workloads as well as identify gaps and needs for technical assistance.