Behavioural Surveillance Surveys - The Wisdom of Whores

5. A series of “issues briefs” which package
data from the surveillance systems together
with data from other sources for the use of
different sectors, as described above.
6. A schedule of meetings with members
of the community from which data
were gathered, carefully explaining the
implications of the findings for the
community and the individuals within it.
Data presentation for clarity
and impact
Choosing the right information for the
audience and presenting it persuasively are
the two keys to turning data into action.
Simple issues surrounding the physical
presentation of data can help increase its use.
Some suggestions for data presentation follow:
A picture is worth a thousand words
Graphic presentation of information
from BSS and other sources of surveillance
information is much more persuasive to the
majority of people than tables or text.
Bear in mind that many people may want to
reproduce graphics to use in their own
presentations, or in combination with other
data, so they should be virtually self contained.
A good graphic contains:
• A title that clearly specifies what is being
measured, including the population in the
denominator, the location and the time
(e.g. year) of data collection. Parameters
of the indicator should also be specified in
the graphic, although if this overloads the
graph titles, they can sometimes be included
in the axes titles or the legend
• A source
• Value labels for each data point. This allows
people to read off values and either
recreate the graph or refer to them in a
text or speech. Where there are many data
points on a graph and data labels are likely
to cause confusion, the base data for the
graph can accompany it in a small table.
• Significance levels and/or confidence
intervals. In more technical reports,
the p-value itself may be reported on the
data series for the graph. For more general
presentation, relevant data series can simply
be labeled “statistically significant”.
More sources are better than fewer
There are elements of uncertainty associated
with most aspects of HIV-related surveillance,
monitoring and evaluation, even after all
the relevant statistical analyses have been
performed. People are more likely to be
persuaded that observed changes are real if
different types of data all point in the same
direction. A graph showing a significant rise
in self-reported condom use will be more
believable if it is presented in conjunction with
other data showing a rise in condom sales
than if it appears alone. These different data
types may not necessarily come from the same
source. Some may be generated by BSS or
HIV sentinel surveillance while others may
come from routine health system reporting or
retail surveys. Figure 9 shows data from a
study among young men in Thailand. In this
study, fewer men reported recent commercial
sex partners in each year of the study, and
among those that did, condom use with sex
workers rose dramatically. These changes in
self-reported behavior are strongly supported
by physical evidence of lower risk behavior,
in the form of lower STI and HIV prevalence.
90
C H A PTER 8 B EHAV I OR A L S U R V EI L L A NC E S U R V EY S