HIV Working Group

Stephanie Wu Doctoral Student in BiostatisticsHarvard University Bethany Hedt-Gauthier, PhDAssociate Professor, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Global Protocols for HIV Drug Resistance Surveillance: The Theoretical and Practical Complex Survey Sampling Considerations Abstract: In many parts of the world, HIV treatment programs offer a limited number of standardized treatment options to ensure that treatments are affordable and accessible to as many people as possible. Acquired Drug Resistance (ADR) can undermine the effectiveness of these treatment programs; however, monitoring for ADR on an individual level is too expensive and complex for most national treatment programs to adopt. To that end, the World Health Organization (WHO) develops ADR surveillance protocols to monitor ADR prevalence to assess whether current treatment options remain effective on the population level. These protocols must balance statistical rigor with various aspects of feasibility. In this presentation, Bethany Hedt-Gauthier and Stephanie Wu will describe the statistical aspects of the newest ADR surveillance strategies and will discuss how practical considerations informed the statistical design.