HIV-related data among key populations to inform evidence-based responses: protocol of a systematic review

Abstract

BackgroundKey populations who bear a disproportionate burden of HIV, including female sex workers, men who have sex with men, people who use drugs, transgender people, and incarcerated populations, have been understudied, especially in the context of broadly generalized HIV epidemics. Program and investment planning documents often do not take into account the data that do exist. Prior systematic reviews have been comprehensive, but lack sustainability and relevance over time. This review aims to synthesize all available data for key populations and present the data through an accessible, updatable user-friendly graphic interface. The outputs of this systematic review will serve as a resource for decision-makers, providing government stakeholders and donors with the tools to make evidence-based decisions for national planning.MethodsWe will conduct a systematic review of data published or made available between January 1, 2006, and January 1, 2019, that captures the burden of HIV, both prevalence and incidence estimates, HIV prevention and treatment cascades, key population size estimates, experienced violence, consistent condom use, and engagement with healthcare systems for female sex workers, men who have sex with men, people who use drugs, transgender people, and incarcerated populations. A team of reviewers will use Covidence to conduct two independent reviews of both title/abstract and full text for each article. REDCap will be used for data abstraction and storage.DiscussionFindings from this systematic review and the development of the enhanced graphical interface to display data, along with ongoing efforts to build capacity among key stakeholders to better use and interpret available data, will help ensure that available epidemiologic data related to key populations can be appropriately used to guide large-scale HIV funding and programmatic responses.Systematic review registrationPROPSERO CRD42016047259.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13643-018-0894-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The uptake of population size estimation studies for key populations in guiding HIV responses on the African continent

“…The parent systematic review sought to identify all HIVrelated data for key populations in peer-reviewed and gray literature. The protocol of this parent systematic review, including search strategies, data items, inclusion/exclusion criteria, screening and selection are described in detail elsewhere [26] and registered in the PROPSERO database (CRD42016047259; 28 September 2016). The current PSE review was conducted following the parent systematic review.…”

Evolving HIV epidemics

“…However, the knowledge base at present is insufficient to most efficiently allocate prevention resources [10]. This increases the importance of recent efforts to systematize this data and make it more readily available for program planning, analysis and modeling [13 ▪▪ ].…”

“…The need for this data to guide programs, inform models to target them appropriately and scale-up programs to meet key population needs is urgent. This makes the effort by the Global HIV Research Group to systematize the collection of key population data globally and disseminate them in easy-to-use forms a critical first step in identifying ongoing gaps and translating key population data and models into actions and accountability [13 ▪▪ ]. As this data comes online, modelers should use it to expand the number of countries in SSA with dynamical models that include key populations and improve models in countries already doing so.…”

“…The corollary to ‘concentrated becomes generalized’ is ‘once epidemics become generalized, key populations aren’t too important’. This has become a self-fulfilling prophecy as the lack of interest in key populations in generalized settings has restricted the collection of data on prevalence, size and risk behaviors until recently, making it difficult to accurately assess the proportion of new infections occurring among key populations and their immediate partners [13 ▪▪ ].…”

School-going transgender youths’ experiences at health care facilities: a systematic scoping review protocol

“…In response to the HIV epidemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO), commissioned a review to identify the most vulnerable populations who are at a high risk of HIV infection [22]. Five (5) key populations (KPs) were identified which include people in prisons, sex workers, people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men, and transgender people [23]. The latter is due to higher-risk behaviors in these populations with 96% of KPs contributing to new HIV infections in Europe, Asia, and Africa [24].…”