HIV Sentinel Surveillance Survey 2019/ Prevalence and Characteristics of HIV Cases in Sri Lanka; Experience from Sentinel Site Surveillance 2019

Introduction: Sri Lanka remains a low-prevalent country for HIV/ AIDS over last few decades, according to the reported cases to the National STD and AIDS Control Programme. Even among high risk population groups, the HIV prevalence remains low. It is very important to monitor HIV prevalence trends among these population groups as risk behaviours are changing and HIV prevalence might rise in escalating levels needing urgent action.

Objective: The objective of the survey is to assess the prevalence of HIV infection among the subpopulation groups at risk for HIV infection and to monitor the trends of the HIV epidemic.

Method: As a regular process, 14th round of HIV sentinel surveillance survey was conducted during the period of 3 months starting from 01st October to 31st December 2019. A survey protocol was developed in 2019 including same sentinel sites, modified sentinel groups and testing algorithms. The nine provinces of the country were identified as 9 sentinel sites and sentinel groups include Men who have sex with men (MSM), female sex workers (FSW), Clients of sex workers, Transgender women and people who inject drugs (PWID).

Results: Prevalence of HIV was highest among MSM (1.46%) followed by transgender women (1.35%) and clients of sex workers (0.09%). The prevalence among FSW was 0.07%, and there were no HIV positives among the 70 PWID enrolled in the study.

Conclusions: MSMs appears to be the highest risk group for contracting HIV and active syphilis in Sri Lanka. This trend should be taken into account when planning interventions to achieve programme objectives.