This manual outlines in detail how to carry out a method called Priorities for Local AIDS Control Efforts (PLACE), which is a "rapid assessment tool to monitor and improve AIDS prevention program coverage in areas where HIV transmission is most likely to occur." It is designed to provide strategic information to prevention programmes based on the unique features and contexts of local HIV transmission networks. The process involves identifying gaps in current prevention programmes, enhancing the local use of these findings to improve programme delivery, and monitoring programme coverage over time. PLACE is designed for implementation within a short period of time without extensive involvement of outside technical experts. It can be implemented using a spreadsheet programme, a word-processing programme, and Epi Info, a statistical software programme developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The method includes local participatory feedback and dissemination workshops to ensure that results are used to tailor local interventions. As of early 2005, PLACE had been implemented in more than 60 priority prevention areas in 15 countries.

The manual features extensive discussion of how to carry out each of the 5 steps in the PLACE procedure, which - in brief - include:

1. A national PLACE steering committee identifies priority prevention areas (PPAs), decides where PLACE will be implemented, makes protocol decisions, obtains ethical approval, and plans implementation.
2. Trained interviewers ask approximately 400 community members to name venues (such as hotels, hostels, parks, and bars) and events where people meet new sexual partners and where injecting drug users (IDUs) socialise.
3. Trained interviewers visit all venues identified in Step 2 and characterise each in terms of the type of venue, the type and number of people who visit the venue (including youth, IDUs, men who have sex with men (MSM), sex workers, and clients), the existence of any current HIV/AIDS prevention programmes at the venue, and the feasibility of future on-site prevention efforts. Global positioning system (GPS) technology is used here to map venues.
4. A representative sample of patrons is interviewed regarding their sociodemographic characteristics, their sexual and injecting drug use behaviours, and their exposure to HIV prevention programmes, including HIV testing and condom promotion.
5. Local stakeholders review the findings and develop action plans in participatory workshops.

Also included in the manual are an interviewer guide, various forms (e.g., questionnaires), PowerPoint presentations, a list of resources, and details about a CD-ROM with electronic version of documents and forms.

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MEASURE Evaluation Monitor, July 2008.