The goals of population-based HIV impact assessments (PHIAs) are to define the status of the HIV epidemic in specific President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)-supported countries.

The main objectives are to

• Estimate HIV incidence and/or prevalence of viral load suppression at national and/or subnational levels
• Assess access to and uptake of HIV services at the population level
• Estimate the prevalence of HIV-related risk behaviors

Working with ICAP at Columbia University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Westat has provided technical support in developing and implementing PHIAs in 15 PEPFAR-supported countries. 

Westat performs the following tasks:

• Provides statistical expertise in survey sampling and weighting
• Supports all aspects of electronic data collection on tablet computers
• Develops dashboards to track the progress of data collection
• Provides general mapping and global positioning system (GPS) support to facilitate data collection
• Manages the survey data and prepares the final datasets used for analysis
• Assists ICAP in now implementing population-based surveys in 6 countries: Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe.

Results of the surveys provide critical information on HIV and help shape national policies and programs to better confront the epidemic.