Publication

The 2023 checklist and reference list is an updated version of the UNAIDS’s 2020 version Checklist and reference list for developing and reviewing a national strategic plan for HIV and is intended to serve as a helpful tool for developing and revising countries’ national strategic plans for HIV. The checklist is in line with the Global AIDS Strategy 2021-2026 priority strategic and results areas and the 2025 global HIV targets. It complements and builds on the most recent normative and technical guidance developed by UNAIDS, the UNAIDS cosponsors and The Global Fund’s Secretariat. It includes hyperlinks for such guidance, technical recommendations and other references for easy reference.

This checklist, including the YES, PARTIAL and NO response choices and justification, is not intended to be submitted to UNAIDS but rather is a self-assessment tool to help with the NSP review or development to understand relevant options and make evidence-informed decisions for the country to produce a meaningful, useful and impact-oriented NSP. The checklist has two parts for NSP self-assessment: high-level cross-cutting content (Part A) and specific programme content (Part B).

Part A applies to all countries and contains analyses of situations and responses to inform NSP development, the key principles of NSP development process, the goal, targets and priority-setting, and the principles of human rights, equity and sustainability. Part B contains the policy and programme requirements for HIV prevention, testing and diagnosis, treatment and care, addressing comorbidities and co-infections, enabling implementation and scaling up of integrated people-centred strategies, systems and interventions, social protection, health systems, community engagement and community-led responses, human rights and gender equity, efficiency and effectiveness, governance, management and accountability, HIV in humanitarian crises, and pandemic preparedness and response. Countries need to select the relevant elements of Part B depending on context and consultations with wider groups of stakeholders.