HIV planning body integration: Decision making concerns and lessons learned for success

Issues: The Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria includes civil society in many ways, in particular to understand the dynamics of infected and affected communities, jurisdictions or population groups. In the US, health departments include civil society members who form HIV planning councils or HIV prevention planning groups. These two distinct bodies influence decision-makers by deciding funding levels for health interventions as well as support development of HIV jurisdictional plans, respectively. US policy changes in healthcare services have required shifts in resource distribution; in order to continue to achieve required outcomes, and receive input from the community, some health departments have combined both HIV planning bodies. Such an assimilation of groups often entails a reassessment of roles, responsibilities and decision-making, community buy-in and institutional change, power and can be an issue if groups are not ready for integration. Lessons learned: The level of capacity building assistance regarding integration varied. It was beneficial to have resources developed that addressed the needs of groups at each stage of the integration process. This oral presentation will provide the findings from instances in which an assessment was conducted and a group was not ready for integration and the results of groups that did integrate. Recommendations: Each planning body should use specific ways to make an appropriate assessment of their readiness for integration. The key components in the integration of HIV prevention planning bodies will be highlighted in our presentation along with definitions and necessary steps to ensure equitable integration of services.