SITUATION ASSESSMENT FOR HIV PROGRAMMING

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SITUATION ASSESSMENT FOR HIV PROGRAMMING

• DR. S.K CHATURVEDI
• DR. KANUPRIYA CHATURVEDI

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OBJECTIVES

• To understand the principles of needs assessment
  with special reference to HIV
• To understand the various stages and components
  in needs assessment

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PURPOSE

• An assessment should result in a comprehensive
  profile of the HIV/AIDS situation in a country,
  province, district, or community. It helps us
  understand the people at risk for HIV, the gender
  differences in vulnerability, and those affected
  by it. It helps us recognize ongoing efforts and
  resources and to uncover critical gaps in the
  response. It also helps us address the social,
  gender, cultural, political, legal, and resource
  issues that affect a program. The information
  collected in the assessment process support our
  ability to make good decisions about the best
  ways to contribute to the fight against HIV and
  AIDS.

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DEFINITION

• Assessment isa process for better understanding
  the status of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and program
  responses to it in a specific time and place.
  Generally, it involves gathering, synthesizing,
  and analyzing information with enough objectivity
  and detail to support a program decision

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COMPONENTS

• An assessment describes the magnitude
• and dynamics of the problem as well as the
• response. It generally includes two
• components
• A situation assessment
• A response assessment

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SITUATION ASSESSSMENT

• A situation assessment (also known as a
  situation analysis or a needs
• assessment) produces
• A map of the people who are most vulnerable to
  infection noting age and gender differences in
  vulnerability
• A description of why they are vulnerable
• An approximation of the number of vulnerable
  people

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Contd.

• A description of how and where they interact in
  ways that increase their vulnerability to HIV
  infection
• A description of the social, economic, political,
  cultural, and legal issues associated with the
  epidemic
• An understanding of how women and men, and girls
  and boys, differ in how they are affected by the
  epidemic

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SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS

• A situation analysis puts the HIV epidemic in its
  social, economic, and cultural context in a given
  country. It looks at who is infected or is
  vulnerable to infection, and tries to explain
  why. It looks for explanations not just in
  people's behavior, but also in the social,
  economic and cultural situations that underlie
  that behavior. A situation analysis looks
  specifically at situations that may be relevant
  to HIV, the facets that favor or impede its
  spread, and the factors that favoror impede
  achieving the best possible quality of life for
  those living with HIV and for their families.
  Since the analysis explains the current
  situation, it helps to identify opportunities for
  changing that situation

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RAPID ASSESSMENT

• What if you have a short time frame to conduct
  assessment?
• Rapid assessment is an approach to assessment
  that uses the same methodologies, but allows you
  to gather information in a shorter time frame.
  Rapid assessment focuses on collecting relevant
  and applicable information in a relatively short
  period of time.

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RESPONSE ASSESSMENT

• A response assessment (also referred to as a
  response analysis) produces
• A map of the ongoing (and past) activities that
  have addressed HIV/AIDS (i.e., what organizations
  and groups are doing and not doing about HIV/AIDS
  in a particular area)
• A determination of what interventions are
  working, which ones are not, what needs
  improvement, and where the gaps have appeared in
  the response to date
• An examination of the problems faced by people
  living with HIV/AIDS, which may reveal the
  services that people are using and the services
  they need, and should reveal any differences in
  the experience of women and men

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STAGE I

• The first stage of Assessment, Prepare, involves
  five steps.
• In Step 1, Clarify the Scope, program managers
  must define who will use the assessment
  information (audience), what the assessment is to
  be used for (purpose), and the resources
  available for conducting the assessment.
• In Step 2, Assess Resources, program managers
  must take stock of the resources for conducting
  the assessment and determine whether they are
  sufficient and compatible with the scope of the
  assessment.

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Stage I contd.

• In Step 3, Identify Team Members, program
  managers are responsible for assembling a team
  and identifying a team leader to conduct the
  assessment.
• In Step 4, Develop a Work Plan, program managers
  and assessment teams create a work plan, which
  serves to clarify, inform, and direct the tasks
  associated with the assessment.
• Step 5, Conduct a Briefing and Planning Meeting,
  discusses the importance and content of a meeting
  designed to restate the tasks of the assessment,
  to clarify roles and responsibilities, and to
  ensure that program managers, stakeholders, and
  partners are unified in their vision for the
  assessment

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STAGE II

• In this stage, you will gather the information
  that is necessary to the
• assessment. Both quantitative and qualitative
  data are needed. There
• are two steps in this stage.
• In Step 1, Compile Existing Data, programmers
  establish what is already known about each facet
  of the HIV situation and response within the
  assigned scope, and identify where that knowledge
  is located. Programmers should build on the rapid
  desk review that helped to define the scope and
  team composition in the last stage.

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Stage II contd.

• In Step 2, Collect Additional Information,
  guidance is provided on how to identify and fill
  information gaps.
• Some of the unpublished data/information you seek
  have already been collected and are available
  from various sources. Missing data (or
  deficiencies in existing data) must be collected
  by hand using various data-gathering techniques
  such as written questionnaires, key informant
  interviews, focus group interviews, and other
  techniques described in this module

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STAGE III

• There are three steps in this stage.
• Step 1, Summarize the Situation, outlines how to
  identify key programming areas, and the key needs
  within each area.
• Step 2, Review the Response and Identify Gaps,
  provides guidance on how to determine which needs
  are being met and which are not.
• Step 3, Identify Opportunities and Obstacles,
  outlines how to assess existing obstacles that
  will need to be overcome or avoided, and the
  opportunities for expanding the response

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STAGE 1V

• This stage provides tools and direction for
  putting the
• assessment into action.
• There are three steps in this stage.
• Step 1, Draft a Report, provides guidance for
  writing the assessment report.
• Step 2, Solicit Stakeholder Input, presents
  suggestions for sharing information with key
  individuals and agencies for input and support.
• Step 3, Presenting Results, outlines how to
  present and apply what was learned by continuing
  the programming process.