A situational analysis methodology to inform comprehensive HIV prevention and treatment programming, applied in rural South Africa

ABSTRACT

Successful HIV prevention programming requires engaging communities in the planning process and responding to the social environmental factors that shape health and behaviour in a specific local context. We conducted two community-based situational analyses to inform a large, comprehensive HIV prevention programme in two rural districts of North West Province South Africa in 2012. The methodology includes: initial partnership building, goal setting and background research; 1 week of field work; in-field and subsequent data analysis; and community dissemination and programmatic incorporation of results. We describe the methodology and a case study of the approach in rural South Africa; assess if the methodology generated data with sufficient saturation, breadth and utility for programming purposes; and evaluate if this process successfully engaged the community. Between the two sites, 87 men and 105 women consented to in-depth interviews; 17 focus groups were conducted; and 13 health facilities and 7 NGOs were assessed. The methodology succeeded in quickly collecting high-quality data relevant to tailoring a comprehensive HIV programme and created a strong foundation for community engagement and integration with local health services. This methodology can be an accessible tool in guiding community engagement and tailoring future combination HIV prevention and care programmes.

KEYWORDS:

• Situational analysis
• rapid assessment
• community engagement
• HIV
• South Africa

Acknowledgements

We thank the North West Province Department of Health and the districts of Dr. Ruth Segomotsi Mompati and Bojanala Platinum for their collaboration. We extend our appreciation to our talented fieldwork team. We thank all the providers, community members and key informants who talked with us about their lives and communities. Finally, we thank our reviewers whose thorough feedback greatly improved our manuscript. The contents of this article are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This publication has been supported by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [Cooperative Agreement 5U2GGH000324-02].