In 2011, the
United Nations Joint Programme on
HIV/
AIDS (UNAIDS) Regional Support Team for
Asia-Pacific conducted a stock-taking process of available strategic information in the
Asia Pacific region. This
paper summarizes the progress of
HIV surveillance for 20 countries in the region, covering
population size estimates of key
populations at higher
risk,
HIV case
reporting,
HIV sentinel surveillance and
probability surveys of behavioural and
biological markers. Information on
surveillance activities was obtained from publically available
surveillance reports and
protocols, supplemented by
personal communication with the UNAIDS
monitoring and evaluation advisers and
surveillance experts in country. Key findings include substantial efforts in broadening the number and types of
HIV surveillance components included in national
HIV surveillance systems and adopting approaches to make
surveillance more
cost-efficient, such as integrating routine programme
monitoring data and passive
surveillance case
reporting systems. More
investment in regularly analysing and applying
surveillance data to programme strengthening at the subnational level is needed but
will require additional capacity-building and
resources. The
ability to triangulate multiple sources of
surveillance data into a more comprehensive view of the
HIV epidemic will be enhanced if more
investment is made in better
documentation and dissemination of
surveillance activities and findings.