Frequently Asked Questions

AIDSTAR-One does not provide direct financial support for projects. To learn more about the AIDSTAR IQC funding mechanism, visit What AIDSTAR-One Can Do For You.

AIDSTAR-One provides short- and long-term technical assistance at the request of the United States Agency for International Development. For more information, visit What AIDSTAR-One Can Do For You.

Contact us to request hard copies of our materials.

AIDSTAR-One produces and disseminates HIV and AIDS-related technical resources on behalf of the United States Agency for International Development’s Office of HIV/AIDS. To suggest project-related documents, national strategic plan, treatment guideline or other resources for inclusion on the website, contact us.

Vacancies for the AIDSTAR-One project are posted on AIDSTAR-One’s partners’ websites. For a list of the partners and links to their websites, visit About Our Partners.

There are three easy ways to find techncial resources on AIDSTAR-One.com:
• RESOURCES: Quick links to our most popular resources can be found here. The resources search will also allow you to sort our resources by keywords
• FOCUS AREAS: All resrouces are available through the related focus area section.
• SEARCH: The keyword search function at the top right of the web site can help you quickly find materials of interest.

AIDSTAR-One supports the U.S. Agency for International Development and U.S. Government (USG) country teams through targeted technical assistance and by documenting and disseminating promising approaches to HIV programing. Accordingly, content on the website follows the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief organizational structure to allow USG teams, partners, and the public to quickly access relevant information and resources related to HIV and AIDS.

The HIV Prevention Knowledge Base is a collection of research and tools to help you find what works in prevention. This up-to-date collection of resources will help you identify and adapt evidence-based prevention strategies for your program.

AIDSTAR-One is committed to supporting the development and implementation of effective prevention programs by providing program administrators, planners and managers with up-to-date information on prevention approaches and activities. Materials on the website are intended for a broad audience, including policy makers, researchers and students. Links on the AIDSTAR-One site connect people to helpful resources and websites.

AIDSTAR-One’s technical experts and reviewers carefully select the materials that are represented on the website and update them on a continuous basis. Content is selected using a limited number of recent, seminal articles and resources to include in each Prevention Knowledge Base topic. This short list of articles is selected by topic area experts and undergoes a rigorous review process with multiple expert reviewers revising the content in a series of stages until it is published on the website. The primary objective is to provide users with the most recent developments in programs and research, although some important older references are included.

AIDSTAR-One’s goal is to synthesize state-of-the-art information and present it in an accessible, program-ready format so that it can be put to faster use. The AIDSTAR-One Knowledge Base content goes through multiple stages of technical writing and review by topic area experts. Content is screened for clarity, topic coverage and balance, technical accuracy, and accessibility to program planners and managers.

AIDSTAR-One HIV Knowledge Base provides program-relevant information for program planners and implementers. Each knowledge base topic is introduced with a short description of the activity, its epidemiologic importance, a short synthesis of the major findings from research and the current status of program implementation, followed by:

1. What We Know – Short summaries of major program relevant findings from a small set of seminal research articles that together provide the evidence-base that supports the approach to prevention
2. Putting it Into Practice – Summaries of key interventions on how to reduce the transmission of HIV. For those who want additional information, links are provided to the AIDSTAR-One Good and Promising Programmatic Practices (G3P) database
3. Tools and Curricula – Links to program materials, including tools, curricula, models, and promotional materials are provided for programs to adapt and use
4. Learn More – Links to important additional materials and websites, for those who want more information

These resources are designed to provide readers with program-ready synopses of critical information on 30 different types of prevention activities. Because effective HIV prevention approaches are likely to include a mix of strategies and risk reduction approaches, AIDSTAR-One encourages users not to read any one HIV Prevention Knowledge Base topic in isolation. Use the navigation bars on the sides of each page to find related prevention areas that are most effective when they work hand-in-hand.

AIDSTAR-One reviews and updates the HIV Prevention Knowledge Base materials on a continuous basis through a technical review process. In order to keep the volume of information presented at useful, manageable levels, newly posted materials often replace older ones. Look for the date on the bottom of each HIV Prevention Knowledge Base page to see when the materials were last updated.

The HIV Prevention Knowledge Base provides people who plan and implement HIV prevention activities with synopses of program-relevant research findings and programmatic experience. Full citations and available links are provided so that people who may want additional information can learn more.

If you have a suggestion for how to improve the content of HIV Prevention Knowledge Base, send an email to info@aidstar-one.com and include the title of the specific Prevention Knowledge Base topic as the email subject.

Each knowledge base topic is introduced with a short description of the activity, its epidemiologic importance, a short synthesis of the core elements of the intervention, and a description of the current state of practice followed by:

What We Know – Click here for summaries of the research providing the evidence base that supports the prevention approach

Putting it Into Practice – Read these summaries of promising interventions

Tools and Curricula – Adapt and use these program materials, including tools, curricula, and models

Additional Resources – Link to important additional materials and websites

Effective HIV prevention approaches are likely to include a mix of strategies. Click on “related items” at the bottom of each topic page for allied approaches.

AIDSTAR-One is committed to supporting the development and implementation of effective prevention programs by providing program administrators, planners and managers with up-to-date information on prevention approaches and activities. Materials on the website are intended for a broad audience, including policy makers, researchers and students. Links on the AIDSTAR-One site connect people to helpful resources and websites.

USAID, through the AIDSTAR-One project, maintains a comprehensive database of good and promising programmatic practices (formerly known as G3Ps) that users can search to identify successful HIV programs (e.g., prevention, care and support, PMTCT) to inform their own design and implementation efforts.

AIDSTAR-One's Promising Practices Database broadens the definition of a "best practice" by including emerging, innovative approaches as well as proven practices. This ensures that users have balanced access to information about both cutting-edge HIV program models and those more established practices.

Program designers, implementers, and managers can search the database to find models that they can adapt for use in their context. The documentation included with some practices may also include tools and training curricula that have been successfully implemented in the field.

Practices are assigned to one of three categories (see graphic below) to help users distinguish how much evidence a practice has available to inform future programming. These categories do not reflect the value of a practice, but rather the breadth of the documentation that is available on the practice.

The database lists practices based on six program elements: target population, program implementation, program evaluation, program monitoring, quality assurance/quality improvement; and extent of funding support.To include a practice in the database, AIDSTAR-One must have adequate documentation on the specific objectives of the practice, its target population, how it was implemented, and the results it has achieved.

Search based on the category a practice is assigned, as well as its core content (target population, focus area, region, etc.).

AIDSTAR-One is not currently accepting any new submissions for the Promising Practices Database. However, the database will continue to be hosted on the AIDSTAR-One site indefinitely. For questions about existing practices in the database, contact us.