Ross A; International Conference on AIDS.

Int Conf AIDS. 1996 Jul 7-12; 11: 408 (abstract no. Th.D.5009).

Bureau for Africa, U.S. Agency for International Development, Washington, DC, USA. Fax: (703) 235-4466. E-mail: aross@usaid.gov.

Issue: Policy documents are often published without much followup preventing full appreciation of how or whether the report was actually used, and what elements of the report and/or its presentation were of use to decision makers. Project: The recent release of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report on Preventing and Mitigating AIDS in Sub Saharan Africa: Research and Data Priorities for the Social and Behavioral Sciences, provides a timely opportunity to track the use of an important HIV/AIDS policy document. The report, primarily funded by the USAID Bureau for Africa, with five key and 28 other recommendations, provides a synthesis of the state of the art and emphasizes the need for additional research on the social and behavioral aspects of the epidemic, evaluating which interventions work, and increasing the indigenous capacity of African institutions to carry out this research. USAID distributed a questionnaire at the IXth AIDS in Africa Conference as well as to national, bilateral, and multilateral AIDS programs, to assess the utility of the report to HIV/AIDS policy development and to obtain information on what additional means were needed to ensure its maximum use in setting research priorities. USAID also used the report to reassess its own strategic objectives and programming regarding HIV/AIDS. Results: The NAS report has been well accepted. Initial questionnaire responses have yielded important insights regarding the potential use of this report. Respondents (n=31 to date), predominately from university and non-governmental settings, indicated their intent to use the findings of the report to: prioritize their research efforts (75%), educate the public (50%), and argue for additional resources for research (62%). The majority of respondents (90%) attribute a high level of credibility to the NAS and believe that institutional decision makers would pay attention to the report. Respondents uniformly indicated that the prioritization of research needs was among the most useful of the report's findings. Lessons Learned: Surveys indicate users' desire for state of the art information on preventing and mitigating the HIV/AIDS pandemic, as well as tools to assist prioritizing related research needs. Subsequent efforts are needed to help disseminate and advocate the research findings, as well as to develop materials to assist users to lead their own prioritization process.

Publication Types:

• Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

• Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
• Africa
• Africa South of the Sahara
• Government Agencies
• HIV Infections
• HIV Seropositivity
• Health Services Needs and Demand
• Health Services Research
• National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
• Policy Making
• Public Policy
• Research
• Sjogren's Syndrome
• methods
• organization & administration

Other ID:

• 96925283

UI: 102221182

From Meeting Abstracts