CDC e-HAP FYI Updates: New Journal Supplement Highlights Importance of NHBS

CDC e-HAP FYI Updates: New Journal Supplement Highlights Importance of NHBS

This week, CDC authors and partners from health departments and academic institutions published 17 papers in a supplemental edition of the journal AIDS and Behavior. The supplement highlights the importance of the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System (NHBS) for characterizing and monitoring the burden of HIV infection, HIV related risks and the use of HIV testing, treatment and other services. This supplement was the result of a combined effort on behalf of CDC and its partners and features reports that illustrate the uses of NHBS data at the national and local levels.

Since 2003, NHBS has conducted interviews and conducted HIV testing among men who have sex with men (MSM), injection drug users (IDU), and heterosexuals in cities with a high prevalence of AIDS. NHBS was designed to monitor HIV prevalence and risk factors for HIV infection among higher-risk individuals, i.e., sexually active MSM who attend venues, IDU who injected in the past 12 months, and heterosexuals living in low socioeconomic urban areas. These groups were selected as priorities for behavioral surveillance since they represent the major HIV transmission routes and the populations with the highest HIV burden. NHBS contributes to the nation’s program of HIV surveillance by being the only multi-site system that provides estimates on key HIV prevention measures among high-risk HIV-negative individuals, HIV–positive individuals unaware of their infection, and HIV-positive individuals aware of their infection who are in and out of care. Accurate and precise data on the behaviors in these populations are critical for tracking the epidemic, planning effective responses, and monitoring and evaluating those responses.

The papers in this supplement exemplify how NHBS continues to offer a compelling and powerful approach to informing prevention, and increasingly care and treatment, especially in populations at highest risk for HIV.

Additional Resources:

CDC HIV/AIDS
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CDC HIV Facebook
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CDC Twitter
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Act Against AIDS 
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Act Against AIDS Twitter
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CDC-INFO 
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Get information about personal risk, prevention, and testing.

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