jHASE CALLS FOR ARTICLES/PAPERS: Special Series on Expanded Use Of Data From Diagnosed HIV Cases/HIV Case Surveillance In Public Health Practice or Interventions

THEME OF ARTICLE SERIES:

Expanded Use Of Data From Diagnosed HIV Cases/HIV Case Surveillance In Public Health Practice or Interventions: i.e. Individual and Population-Level Linkage of HIV Case Reporting/Surveillance to Prevention and Care Service Delivery [i.e. a) applied epidemiologic research (specifically surveillance, interventions, policy, b)services and operations research), c) methods and review articles, d) debates and editorials].

Objectives:

The purpose of the invited series of research, debate and review articles, and editorials (on the use of data from diagnosed HIV cases or HIV case reporting/surveillance to launch and evaluate prevention and care interventions at both individual and population levels) is to develop a body of scholarly work on the topic that will have been rigorously peer-reviewed for quality through the format of a scientific journal. A body of rigorously peer-reviewed scholarly work on this topic will stimulate further advances in the field and also provide public health practitioners with exemplary reference materials needed for policy, practice protocol development, and guidance for program implementation.

Background, Rationale and Significance:

It is now over 25 years after the emergence of the global HIV pandemic, and 10 years of widespread implementation of programs for distribution of effective highly active antiretroviral therapy(HAART), and monitoring and evaluation of the epidemic through population-wide case reporting/surveillance of all new diagnoses of HIV in well-resourced western countries [incl. the use of public bill-payer claims databases (e.g. Medicaid in the US)]. Programs for scale-up of individual-level antiretroviral therapy care programs and surveillance systems for individual-level in-care monitoring and evaluation are finally being considered and getting implemented in the poorly-resourced countries which are most affected by HIV.

To assure comprehensive effective implementation of both prevention and care programs in all affected parts of the world, it is critical that all available methodological approaches be considered; in particular, consideration is needed for implementation and extending the use of population-wide HIV case reporting/surveillance systems beyond the usual population-level use for aggregate analyses to direct/evaluate programs at the population-level (and not just for follow-up monitoring and evaluation of those in care).
This entails consideration of implementation of well established classic public health interventions widely used for controlling STDs, TB, and comparable infectious diseases: i.e. implementation of population-wide case reporting/surveillance of all new diagnoses of HIV and considering the use of such case reporting/surveillance systems which follow-up all persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH/A) who know their status (WKTS) for launching and evaluating a continuum of services which include:
a) partner services (PS) for PLWH/A-WKTS,
b) monitoring the extent of unmet needs among PLWH/A-WKTS for linkage to ongoing care and prevention(OC&P),
c) assessing barriers and service gaps which adversely impact linkage to OC&P, and
d) addressing unmet needs for linkage to OC&P.

As government Departments of Health in poorly-resourced countries consider whether and how they can establish such potentially complex and resource-intensive national systems and develop applicable policies and system adaptations suited for poorly-resourced settings, they are finding few examples of rigorously studied exemplary models which have been successfully implemented in well- and poorly-resourced settings, which can be easily replicated in their settings.
The jHASE Editorial Board’s call for articles on this topic is informed by recognition of the limited quantity and quality of rigorously peer-reviewed research, methods, practice and debate articles on exemplary models on this topic which have been successfully implemented in well- and poorly-resourced settings. The topic as it applies to HIV is relatively uncharted as even well-resourced countries such as the USA only recently published, for the first time, integrated national guidelines which categorically include a call for the use of the country's mature 25 year-old case reporting/surveillance systems, which follow-up all PLWH/A-WKTS, for launching and evaluating the continuum of ongoing care and prevention services referenced above including PS. The first jHASE call for articles on this topic could not have come at a better time than on the eve of publication of updated US national guidelines for PS which categorically address this topic. The indefinite extension of this jHASE call for articles for this special series underscores the importance of this topic.

Relevant Journal Section(s) To Submit Articles To and Timeline:

The breadth of scope of the topic is such that articles are invited for contribution to any jHASE section that’s most relevant to each article’s focus. This may include but not be limited to applied epidemiologic research (specifically surveillance, interventions, policy, services and operations research); methods and review articles, debates and editorials, are also encouraged.
Articles for this special series must be submitted before the beginning of each quarter for publication by the end of the next quarter; the special series will accept submissions indefinitely/until further notice. Articles submitted for this series which do not meet the criteria for this series will be considered as part of the regular submission track.