Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations

AGENCY:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION:

Notice with comment period.

SUMMARY:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its continuing efforts to reduce public burden and maximize the utility of government information, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) system. CDC is requesting a 3-year approval for revision to the previously approved project to continue collecting standardized HIV-related behavioral data from persons at risk for HIV systematically selected from 25 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) throughout the United States.

DATES:

Written comments must be received on or before August 8, 2016.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2016-0047 by any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail: Leroy A. Richardson, Information Collection Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE., MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.

Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name and Docket Number. All relevant comments received will be posted without change to Regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to Regulations.gov.

Please note:

All public comment should be submitted through the Federal eRulemaking portal (Regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the address listed above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

To request more information on the proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan and instruments, contact the Information Collection Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE., MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: 404-639-7570; Email: omb@cdc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal agencies must obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also requires Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each new proposed collection, each proposed extension of existing collection of information, and each reinstatement of previously approved information collection before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. To comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a proposed data collection as described below.

Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and (e) estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information. Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time needed to review instructions; to develop, acquire, install and utilize technology and systems for the purpose of collecting, validating and verifying information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; to train personnel and to be able to respond to a collection of information, to search data sources, to complete and review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose the information.

Proposed Project

National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System (NHBS)—(0920-0770, Expiration 03/31/2017)—Extension—National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

The purpose of this data collection is to monitor behaviors of persons at high risk for infection that are related to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) transmission and prevention in the United States. The primary objectives of the NHBS system are to obtain data from samples of persons at risk to: (a) Describe the prevalence and trends in risk behaviors; (b) describe the prevalence of and trends in HIV testing and HIV infection; (c) describe the prevalence of and trends in use of HIV prevention services; (d) identify met and unmet needs for HIV prevention services in order to inform health departments, community based organizations, community planning groups and other stakeholders.

By describing and monitoring the HIV risk behaviors, HIV seroprevalence and incidence, and HIV prevention experiences of persons at highest risk for HIV infection, NHBS provides an important data source for evaluating progress towards national public health goals, such as reducing new infections, increasing the use of condoms, and targeting high risk groups.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requests approval for a 3-year extension of this information collection. Data are collected through anonymous, in-person interviews conducted with persons systematically selected from 25 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) throughout the United States; these 25 MSAs were chosen based on having high HIV prevalence. Persons at risk for HIV infection to be interviewed for NHBS include men who have sex with men (MSM), injecting drug users (IDU), and heterosexuals at increased risk of HIV (HET). A brief screening interview will be used to determine eligibility for participation in the behavioral assessment.

The data from the behavioral assessment will provide estimates of (1) behavior related to the risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, (2) prior testing for HIV, (3) and use of HIV prevention services.

All persons interviewed will also be offered an HIV test, and will participate in a pre-test counseling session. No other federal agency systematically collects this type of information from persons at risk for HIV infection. These data have substantial impact on prevention program development and monitoring at the local, state, and national levels.

CDC estimates that NHBS will involve, per year in each of the 25 MSAs, eligibility screening for 50 to 200 persons and eligibility screening plus the behavioral assessment with 500 eligible respondents, resulting in a total of 37,500 eligible survey respondents and 7,500 ineligible screened persons during a 3-year period. Data collection will rotate such that interviews will be conducted among one group per year: MSM in year 1, IDU in year 2, and HET in year 3. The type of data collected for each group will vary slightly due to different sampling methods and risk characteristics of the group.

Participation of respondents is voluntary and there is no cost to the respondents other than their time.