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Implementation

Making HIV visible to the systems that watch for outbreaks.

Strengthening community-anchored IDSR-HIV surveillance under the Blantyre HIV Prevention Strategy.

MalawiBlantyre

A surveillance system — from community hotspots to national response.
Founder experience · KUHeS, Blantyre HIV Prevention Strategy (Gates-funded) · 2022–23

1

Community hotspots

CBOs closest to transmission

2

Case & event detection

Case-based + event-based surveillance

3

District IDSR

Verified, routine data use

4

National response

Preparedness & policy

Capacity built at every level — reporting, verification, routine data use

From community hotspots to national response — HIV inside routine surveillance.

The problem

HIV prevention depends on knowing where transmission is actually happening — but HIV has sat outside the routine Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) system that districts use to detect and respond to outbreaks, and the community organisations closest to transmission hotspots often cannot feed data into it. Hotspots stay invisible until late.

Why it was hard

Embedding HIV into IDSR across district and national levels, and building case-based and event-based surveillance capacity in community organisations, meant confronting the institutional, technical, reporting, coordination and resourcing gaps that constrain community-anchored surveillance.

The approach

  • 1

    Conducted health-systems and policy assessments for the Blantyre HIV Prevention Strategy, a Gates-funded initiative to strengthen HIV surveillance, prevention and response.

  • 2

    Provided technical input on embedding HIV into the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response system (IDSR-HIV) as a core part of outbreak detection, preparedness and response at district and national levels.

  • 3

    Served as the KUHeS focal person in the consortium, and led monitoring, evaluation and a systematic assessment of Ministry of Health capacity to implement IDSR-HIV.

  • 4

    Assessed community-based organisations' readiness for case-based and event-based surveillance in transmission hotspots, then designed and delivered capacity-building on surveillance reporting, data verification and routine data use.

What was created

Analytical assessment reports on IDSR-HIV readiness and system gaps

Capacity and gap assessments of community organisations across transmission hotspots

A capacity-development package for community and district surveillance actors

Policy briefs and communication materials for Ministry of Health decision-making

What changed

Generated the evidence and capacity to integrate HIV into routine surveillance and emergency preparedness, and fed Blantyre HIV Prevention Strategy evidence into national Health Technical Working Group discussions on surveillance integration.

Frameworks & methods

Integrated Disease Surveillance & Response (IDSR)Case-based & event-based surveillanceHealth-systems & capacity assessmentRoutine data use for decision-making

What this demonstrates

Health-systems & surveillance strengtheningMonitoring & evaluationCommunity-systems capacity buildingEvidence-to-policyGovernment engagement

Strengthening disease surveillance or community data systems?

Discuss a challenge

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