The National AIDS Coordinating Agency, NACA, UNAIDS and stakeholders recently completed a study that will assist Botswana to align its national HIV/AIDS prevention response with the best understanding of where new infections are occuring.

The overall purpose of the study titled; 'Know your Epidemic, Know your Response, Modes of Transmission'  is to increase the country's understanding of the dynamics of HIV epidemic in Botswana and to assist the country to come up with target specific interventions.

The study is a unique opportunity for the country to analyze national evidence of where, in what context and in which population sub-groups HIV vulnerability is highest. It allows the assessment of whether allocation of prevention activities and resources is aligned to populations most in need. Since patterns of HIV are dynamic and change over time, there is need to adapt prevention strategies to changing patterns of risk by regularly assessing the distribution of risk behaviour and how new infections are distributed.

The study will address issues of whether HIV prevetion programmes and resources are aligned with the HIV prevention needs. The output of the study will be important in generating strong evidence based on the epidemology of HIV in Botswana that will form the basis of the development of cost effective HIV prevention programming, resource allocation and use of data in the decision making process.

The study will provide more detailed information on where new HIV infections are expected to occur and on the alignment of the prevention programs and resources to those most in need.