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Good Participatory Practice (GPP) Guidelines

What are the Good Participatory Practice (GPP) Guidelines?
The Good Participatory Practice (GPP) Guidelines were developed by AVAC and UNAIDS. They provide trial funders, sponsors and implementers with systematic guidance on how to effectively engage with all stakeholders in the design and conduct of biomedical HIV prevention trials. The guidelines are available in multiple languages. AVAC has also developed  an array of supplementary GPP tools tools.

Download the GPP Guidelines, 2nd Edition

Arabic: تحميل النسخة العربية هنا.
Chinese: 點擊這裡下載中文版。
English: Download here.
French: Télécharger la version française ici.
Khmer: ទាញយកសេចក្ដីរាយការណ៍ជាខ្មែរឯនេះ
Portuguese: Baixar versão em Português aqui.
Russian: Скачать русскую версию здесь.
Spanish: Descargue la versión en español aquí.
Thai: ดาวน์โหลดเวอร์ชั่นภาษาไทยที่นี่
Vietnamese: Tải phiên bản tiếng Việt ở đây.

What tools are available to help with GPP implementation?
AVAC has developed a large set of supplementary tools to help research teams and other stakeholders understand, implement, and monitor the GPP guidelines. Additionally, we help link to other tools available throughout the field for community and other engagement work. More tools are in development to meet the needs of trials and individuals implementing GPP worldwide.

GPP Symposium 2022
A daily summary from a three day GPP Symposium: Includes highlights, contributor profiles, supportive resources and next steps on key topics.

How was GPP developed?
The first edition of the Good Participatory Practice Guidelines for biomedical HIV prevention trials was published in 2007 by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and AVAC. The biomedical HIV prevention field had recently grappled with controversy and civil society concerns that led to the halting of PrEP efficacy trials planned in Cambodia and Cameroon. Local, national, and international stakeholders raised concerns about these trials, highlighting a disconnect with research teams and divergent perspectives on the ethics of the trials' design. The proposed trials had been designed in accordance with international guidance on ethics and clinical research. However there was no common document or guideline for conducting or evaluating stakeholder engagement--and the controversies helped crystallize the need for such a document, which ultimately became GPP.

The initial edition of GPP was drafted by a multidisciplinary international group including community advocates, research staff, and NGO representatives, convened by UNAIDS and AVAC. A draft version of the guidelines was then further refined through broad consultation involving a wide range of stakeholders.

How is GPP applied in practice?
journal issue cover "Science, theory and practice of engaged research: Good Participatory Practice and beyond," a special supplement of the Journal of the International AIDS Society was published in October 2018. This issue tracks practices and articulates the value of GPP and stakeholder engagement in clinical trials across fields, research areas, geographies and populations. (Kate MacQueen wrote a blog post walking through this special supplemental issue.)

This supplement was supported by AVAC with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and via the Coalition to Accelerate and Support Prevention Research (CASPR) through the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

GPP @ 10
Cover of GPP @ 10 fact sheet A decade ago, UNAIDS and AVAC published the Good Participatory Practice Guidelines for Biomedical HIV Prevention Trials (GPP). Created to provide a consistent global standard for stakeholder engagement across the research life-cycle, GPP has emerged as a point of reference for how to engage stakeholders. It has also given rise to a robust community of practice.

After ten years of implementation, AVAC offers a look back at GPP and a vision for its future — and we explain why GPP's true potential lies in the hands not just of research groups, but of civil society, trials participants, and an array of stakeholders in the research endeavor.

How is GPP being adapted outside of HIV prevention research?
GPP has been referenced and adapted in a variety of settings, including: