Strategic Focus

Senegal’s HIV epidemic is concentrated, with an HIV prevalence of less than < 1% in the general the population but very high (up to 20%) among certain key populations such as female sex workers (FSWs) and men who have sex with men (MSM).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began working in Senegal in 2001, supporting the HIV/Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) sentinel surveillance program. Since 2010, through the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR), CDC has continued to support Senegal’s Ministry of Health to build a sustainable and reliable national HIV surveillance system by developing a functioning HIV case reporting and surveillance system, supporting the collection of quality data on key populations such as female sex workers and men who have sex with men in high prevalence areas, and strengthening the quality of routine prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV data and on-site HIV rapid testing.

CDC has also provided support in laboratory capacity building and the implementation of effective laboratory quality management system (QMS), including external quality assurance (EQA) to address existing challenges and gaps in HIV testing and ensure access to high quality HIV diagnostics, in particular for Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) and Viral Load (VL) testing.

Key Activities and Accomplishments

Strategic Information and Laboratory Systems Support

• Development, strengthening and expansion of an HIV case reporting and surveillance system

• Implementation of sentinel surveillance surveys among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics (ANC) based on routine PMTCT program data

• Improvement of the quality of HIV rapid testing and program data collection practices in PMTCT sites for HIV surveillance needs

• Capacity building, training of staff and development of standardized procedures to support the laboratory accreditation process

• Implementation of effective laboratory quality management system (QMS), including external quality assurance (EQA) to ensure access to high quality HIV diagnostics, in particular for EID and VL testing

Key Accomplishments

• Development of the first electronic HIV case reporting and surveillance system in the region

• Country transitioning to using routine PMTCT data for HIV surveillance needs

• AfriQualab – an HIV-related proficiency testing program available to Senegal and all African countries with an emphasis on francophone countries; to support laboratories involved in a quality management process: accreditation or certification.

• International accreditation of the HIV reference Laboratory through Canada’s Institute for Quality Management in Healthcare (IQMH); The HIV Reference Laboratory is the first public health laboratory in West Africa to achieve international accreditation.