Protocol for an Integrated Bio-Behavioral Surveillance Study among Most At-risk Populations in Lebanon : Sex Workers, Injecting Drug Users, Men Who Have Sex with Men, and Prisoners
This report has grown out of the implementation of an Integrated Bio Behavioral Surveillance (IBBS) study among most at-risk populations in Lebanon. AIDS-related policies and programs in the Middle East and North Africa region are highly constraine...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Lebanon Ministry of Public Health
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/11/16407915/lebanon-protocol-integrated-bio-behavioral-surveillance-study-among-most-at-risk-populations-lebanon-sex-workers-injecting-drug-users-men-sex-men-prisoners http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12880 |
| Summary: | This report has grown out of the
implementation of an Integrated Bio Behavioral Surveillance
(IBBS) study among most at-risk populations in Lebanon.
AIDS-related policies and programs in the Middle East and
North Africa region are highly constrained by the lack of
accurate information about the full scale of the epidemic.
This is for a number of reasons, including limitations of
existing surveillance, and intense stigma associated with
the disease. Lebanon urgently requires greater understanding
of its epidemic and high quality integrated bio-behavioral
surveys of vulnerable populations are a prerequisite for
greater understanding of low prevalence epidemics, such as
Lebanon's. The costs of continuing to respond without
adequate data or insight greatly outweigh the cost and
complexities of such a survey. A Lebanese survey will also
contribute to a greater regional understanding of the
magnitude and dynamics of the Middle East's epidemics.
The study aims to provide an estimate of HIV prevalence
among four major vulnerable groups in Lebanon, namely men
who have sex with men (MSM), prisoners, commercial sex
workers (FSWs) and intravenous drug users (IDUs); provide an
estimate of co-infection with Hepatitis B and C among HIV
positive participants in the MSM population, FSW population,
IVUDs, and the prisoners; provide an estimate of level of
infection of Hepatitis C among the entire intravenous drug
user population; foster research collaboration for the
project between NGOs involved with the vulnerable groups,
the National AIDS Program and the American University of
Beirut and contribute to building the research capacity of
the NGOs involved; estimate the population size of the four
vulnerable groups using the multiplier method based on NGO
sources and estimates; and gain greater insight into major
HIV transmission dynamics among the four vulnerable groups
in Lebanon. |
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