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CQUIN’s Key Population Friendly Service Quality Assessment (SQA) is a practical resource designed to help government-run, public health facilities deliver high-quality, equitable, and stigma-free HIV services to key populations such as men who have sex with men, sex workers, people who use drugs, and transgender individuals. These groups are disproportionately affected by HIV and often face barriers to care due to stigma, discrimination, criminalization, and human rights violations. The toolkit fills a critical gap by describing what “key population-friendly” services mean in practice and provides a structured SQA tool based on 26 quality standards. These standards cover dimensions of equity, accessibility, acceptability, appropriateness, effectiveness, and accountability, ensuring that HIV services are not only clinically sound but also respectful, safe, and responsive to the unique needs of key populations.
HIV programs should use this toolkit to strengthen service delivery for key populations within government health facilities, particularly as donor-funded community-led models face sustainability challenges. National HIV programs are encouraged to adapt the toolkit to their local context, prioritize essential standards for rapid adoption, and involve key population communities in every stage of planning, adaptation, and monitoring. Programs can apply the SQA tool for baseline assessments, identify service gaps, and design targeted quality improvement initiatives that uphold confidentiality, reduce stigma, and expand access. By systematically implementing these standards, HIV programs can build trust with key populations, improve service uptake, and sustain progress toward epidemic control through person-centered, rights-based, and equitable health systems.
Resources
Key Population Friendly Services Quality Management Toolkit
