Get TestedBehavioral and Clinical Surveillance Branch (BCSB)
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The Behavioral and Clinical Surveillance Branch implements scientifically rigorous HIV research studies and surveillance systems that meet critical local, state, and national HIV prevention needs for characterizing persons who are at risk for HIV infection or who have recently acquired HIV or have HIV-related morbidities. The branch also develops and demonstrates best practices of laboratory and prevention technologies to efficiently move them from development into public health practice.
National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS)
In 2003, CDC created the National HIV Behavioral and System (NHBS) for conducting behavioral surveillance among persons at high risk for HIV infection.
Process: Surveillance is conducted in rotating annual cycles in three different populations at high risk for HIV: men who have sex with men (MSM), injection drug users (IDUs), and heterosexuals at increased risk for HIV infection (HET). Before each NHBS cycle, formative research is conducted to learn more about the populations and collect data to help with sampling procedures.
Medical Monitoring Project (MMP)
MMP is a national population-based surveillance system that collects information on clinical outcomes and behaviors of HIV-diagnosed adults in the United States. Collection of data from interviews with HIV-infected persons provides information on behaviors that may facilitate HIV transmission; access to, use of, and barriers to HIV-related secondary prevention services; utilization of HIV-related medical services; adherence to drug regimens; and linkage to and engagement in care. Through abstraction of medical records, MMP also provides information on clinical conditions that occur in HIV-infected persons as a result of their disease or the medications they take, receipt of HIV care and support services, and the quality of these services.
Special Studies and Diagnostics Team (SSDT)
The mission of the Special Studies and Diagnostics Team is to guide HIV surveillance, prevention and care by evaluating new HIV testing technologies for detecting recent and acute infections; identifying methods to increase the number of persons at risk for HIV infection who know their serostatus; and ensuring that HIV-infected persons are referred to healthcare services. The team manages a wide range of projects, from evaluations of new HIV testing diagnostics to the implementation of HIV tests in real-world settings. The Team’s current projects include: an assessment of new HIV diagnostic tests and the new HIV testing algorithm in health departments and hospitals; a project to identify 3,000 newly HIV-diagnosed MSM and linking 85% of these men to medical care; and evaluations of HIV risk behaviors and HIV testing among the general U.S. population, through analyses of national probability surveys such as the National Survey of Family Growth.
Read more about the Special Studies and Diagnostics Team (SSDT)
- Page last reviewed: January 16, 2015
- Page last updated: January 16, 2015
- Content source: Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention