Integrating The Prevention And Control Of Noncommunicable Diseases In Hiv Aids Tuberculosis And Sexual And Reproductive Health Programmes

In 2011, heads of state and government at the United Nations General Assembly formally acknowledged that NCDs are one of the major challenges to development and committed to integrate NCD prevention and control into other programmes, such as for HIV and broader maternal and child health programmes, especially in PHC. The commitment to integrate NCDs into existing disease programmes was reaffirmed again through its NCD resolutions at its Third High-level Meeting in 2018. This guidance outlines strategic actions and practical solutions in response to the challenges of integration of NCDs, as appropriate and relevant to the country context. The objective is to maximize the impact of health services and extend access to NCD care. The target readership is policymakers, programme managers and health providers. The guidance should also be useful for WHO and international partners (including donors and banks) that champion integrated support for NCD service delivery in countries and better management.

This technical brief provides practical information on integrating NCDs into the HIV service package and answers frequently asked questions on this subject to facilitate the integration. The target audiences are ministries of health, HIV and NCDs program managers, and relevant stakeholders involved in the planning and implementing HIV services

The 2030 health-related Sustainable Development Goals call on countries to end AIDS as a public health threat and also to achieve universal health coverage. The World Health Organization (WHO) promotes primary health care (PHC) as the key mechanism for achieving universal health coverage, and the PHC approach is also essential for ending AIDS and reaching other Sustainable Development Goal targets. This publication helps decision-makers to consider and optimize the synergies between existing and future assets and investments intended for both PHC and disease-specific responses, including HIV.

Addressing comorbidities and risk factors for tuberculosis (TB) is a crucial component of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s End TB Strategy. This WHO operational handbook on tuberculosis. Module 6: tuberculosis and comorbidities aims to support countries in scaling up people-centred care, based on the latest WHO recommendations on TB and key comorbidities, and drawing upon additional evidence, best practices and inputs from various experts and stakeholders obtained during WHO processes. It is intended for use by people working in ministries of health, particularly TB programmes and the relevant departments or programmes responsible for comorbidities and health-related risk factors for TB such as HIV, diabetes, undernutrition, substance use, and tobacco use, as well as programmes addressing mental health and lung health. This operational handbook is a living document and will include a separate section for each of the key TB comorbidities or health-related risk factors. The second edition includes guidance for HIV-associated TB and on mental health conditions, which are two conditions strongly associated with TB and which result in higher mortality, poorer TB treatment outcomes and negatively impact health-related quality of life. The operational handbook aims to facilitate early detection, proper assessment and adequate management of people affected by TB and comorbidities. Full implementation of this guidance is expected to have a significant impact on TB treatment outcomes and health-related quality of life for people affected by TB.

The WHO Framework is to support WHO and Members States in the meaningful engagement of people living with NCDs, mental health conditions and neurological conditions to co-create and enhance related policies, programmes and services. This Framework will contribute to the advancement of understanding, knowledge and action on meaningful engagement and other related participatory approaches. It provides practical guidance and actions on how to transition from intention to action to operationalize meaningful engagement. The target audience of the publication is WHO, Member States, relevant non-State actors and individuals with lived experience

The paper highlights the role of UNAIDS in intensifying HIV prevention and points to ways in which jointly supportive action can be achieved. It further identifies what needs to be done to speedily and effectively bridge the HIV prevention gap, developing links between HIV prevention and care to ensure the sustainability of HIV treatment. The paper consists of four main sections: Section 1: Explains why HIV prevention must be significantly strengthened to meet the present challenges and harness the opportunities available; Section 2: Identifies key actions that must be central to HIV prevention response and core principles underlying these actions; Section 3: Identifies what national partners must do to scale up HIV prevention at country level; Section 4: Describes the support that UNAIDS will provide towards this process.

A goal of CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP) is to strengthen collaborative work across disease areas and integrate services that are provided by state and local programs* for prevention of HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and tuberculosis (TB). A major barrier to achieving this goal is the lack of standardized data security and confidentiality procedures, which has often been cited as an obstacle for programs seeking to maximize use of data for public health action and provide integrated and comprehensive services. Maintaining confidentiality and security of public health data is a priority across all public health programs. However, policies vary and although disease-specific standards exist for CDC-funded HIV programs, similarly comprehensive CDC standards are lacking for viral hepatitis, STD, and TB prevention programs. Successful implementation of common data protections in state and local health departments with integrated programs suggest implementation of common data security and confidentiality policies is both reasonable and feasible. These programs have benefited from enhanced successful collaborations citing increased completeness of key data elements, collaborative analyses, and gains in program efficiencies as important benefits. Despite the potential benefits, however, policies have not been consistently implemented and the absence of common standards is frequently cited as impeding data sharing and use. Adoption of common practices for securing and protecting data will provide a critical foundation and be increasingly important for ensuring the appropriate sharing and use of data as programs begin to modify policies and increasingly use data for public health action. This document recommends standards for all NCHHSTP programs that, when adopted, will facilitate the secure collection, storage, and use of data while maintaining confidentiality. Designed to support the most desirable practices for enabling secure use of surveillance data for public health action and ensuring implementation of comprehensive evidence-based prevention services, the standards are based on 10 guiding principles that provide the foundation for the collection, storage, and use of these public health data. They address five areas: program policies and responsibilities, data collection and use, data sharing and release, physical security, and electronic data security. Intended for use by state and local health department disease programs to inform the development of policies and procedures, the standards are intentionally broad to allow for differences in public health activities and response across disease programs. The standards, and the guiding principles from which they are derived, are meant to serve as the foundation for more detailed policy development by programs and as a basis for determining if and where improvements are needed. The process includes seven main steps: designating an overall responsible party; performing a standards-based initial assessment of data security and confidentiality protections; developing and maintaining written data security policies and procedures based on assessment findings; developing and implementing training; developing data-sharing plans or agreements as needed; certification of adherence to standards; and performing periodic reviews of policies and procedures. CDC will work with state and local health departments to monitor the implementation of the guidelines and evaluate their impact on securing data, facilitating data use, and increasing program effectiveness.