Tag: Global Fund

Investing in decriminalisation advocacy

Posted on by Milutin

DPNSEE President Nebojša Đurasović and Executive Director Milutin Milošević participated in the meeting of the National Commission for Fighting HIV/AIDS and Tubercolosis in Serbia (also performing the role of the national Country Coordination Mechanism for the Global Fund support). The meeting was held from 16 to 18 July in Banja Koviljača.

On our proposal, the Commission decided to invest part of the savings from the 2023 implementation of the Global Fund supported project “Support to the activities of citizens’ associations in the field of prevention and control of HIV infection” in the campaign for decriminalisation of drug use and possession for personal use.

DPNSEE have already presented the initiative for the decriminalisation of the use and possession of drugs for personal use on two occasions at Commission meetings. In addition, the Drug Policy Network South East Europe officially submitted the initiative to the Ministry of Justice and presented it at the meeting of the Working Group for Amending the Criminal Code and the Working Group on Amending the Law for the Criminal Procedure Code with the Working Groups on Chapters 23 and 24 of the National Convention on the European Union held on 21 December 2023. The initiative was supported at this meeting. Modalities for accepting the initiative and the draft that will be submitted to the National Assembly for adoption (as well as other initiatives to amend these two important laws) will be discussed at thematic discussions; the topic of one of the first discussions planned will be our decriminalisation initiative.

Advocacy is supposed to include:

  • Collection and analysis of the decriminalisation models and the results they have achieved in countries that have decided to take this step
  • A study visit of 5 representatives of civil society institutions and organizations to Portugal or Switzerland
  • An expert meeting where the arguments for and against and the modalities of decriminalisation that would suit our conditions would be analyzed. People who use drugs, drug addicts, and those in recovery, as well as civil society organizations will participate in this meeting. Representatives of countries that have already decriminalized drug possession and use, primarily Slovenia and Croatia, will present their experiences. A proposal to amend Article 149 and remove Article 250 from the Criminal Code, which specifically stigmatizes and discriminates against people living with HIV, would also be presented at the meeting, as well as the initiation of amendments to the Law on Public Order and Peace, which criminalizes sex work.
  • Agreeing on the final proposal to amend the Criminal Code
  • Organization of thematic workshops on the topic of discrimination and decriminalization of people who use drugs, people living with HIV and sex workers

The Global Fund Eligibility List 2023

Posted on by Milutin

Whether a country or region is eligible for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria support is determined by its income classification and disease burden, as detailed in the Global Fund’s Eligibility Policy. The policy is designed to ensure available resources are allocated to countries with the highest disease burden, the least economic capacity, and where key and vulnerable populations are disproportionately affected by the three diseases.

A particular country’s eligibility by component (HIV, tuberculosis and malaria) is recorded annually in the Eligibility List.

The Global Fund published the Eligibility List 2023. It identifies which country components are eligible for an allocation for the 2023-2025 allocation period in support of the Global Fund Strategy for 2023-2028, Fighting Pandemics and Building a Healthier and More Equitable World.’

A few countries from South East Europe are at the list:

  • Kosovo* for HIV and Tuberculosis – both Transition (2020 & 2023)
  • Montenegro for HIV
  • North Macedonia for HIV
  • Romania for Tuberculosis – Transition (2023)
  • Serbia for HIV

Albania is not at the list any more – their Transition project ended. Newcomer is North Macedonia, which is good, but question is why Bosnia Herzegovina is not at the list as situation there is worse and no har reduction/prevention service is available in the country?

Since Romania is not on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) list of Official Development Assistance (ODA) recipients, Romania may be eligible for an allocation for HIV for non-governmental or civil society organizations under Paragraph 9b of the Eligibility Policy only if there are demonstrated barriers to providing funding for interventions for key populations, as supported by the country’s epidemiology. As 2023 is an allocation year, the Secretariat has conducted an assessment and has determined that Romania does not meet the requirements under Paragraph 9b of the Eligibility Policy. Therefore, Romania has been determined not to be eligible for an HIV allocation for the 2023-2025 allocation period.

The Eligibility List 2023 is available following this link>>>.

 

Key harm reduction messages for the replenishment conference

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In advance of the Global Fund Seventh Replenishment Conference to be hosted by President Biden in New York on September 19, 2022, the Network of People who use Drugs (INPUD), the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) and Harm Reduction International (HRI) developed key harm reduction messages for the Global Fund Replenishment Conference, implementation of the new Global Fund Strategy and the Global Fund’s New Funding Model (NFM4) cycle.

Harm reduction investment from international donors and governments in low and middle-income (LMI) countries totalled US$131 million in 2019 – just 5% of the US$2.7 billion UNAIDS estimates is required annually by 2025 for an effective HIV response among people who inject drugs. The Global Fund is the largest donor for harm reduction, providing at least 60% of all international donor support. The outcome of the replenishment will have significant consequences for harm reduction. The protection and scale-up of harm reduction programmes in low- and middle-income countries requires a fully funded Global Fund. An underfunded Global Fund will result in service closures, a reversal of gains made in HIV prevention among people who use drugs and ultimately, lives lost.

INPUD, EHRA and HRI urge the Global Fund and the wider donor community to be proactive in protecting harm reduction within all replenishment scenarios, in implementation of the Global Fund Strategy 2023-2028 and during the NFM4 cycle. Their recommendations centre on the following five areas:

  1. Harm reduction funding must be protected from any replenishment shortfall
  2. Catalytic investments for harm reduction and key populations must continue regardless of replenishment outcome
  3. Funding for community-led responses must be prioritised within NFM4, both for harm reduction and pandemic preparedness and responses
  4. Funding for efforts to increase domestic investment in harm reduction, and broader key population programming must be increased
  5. Funding for harm reduction in crisis must be protected and prioritised

The document with full explanation of the recommendation is available following this link>>>.

 

The Global Fund 7th Replenishment

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The Global Fund raises funds in three-year cycles known as Replenishments. This year, the Global Fund are entering into Seventh Replenishment cycle, covering the period 2023-2025.

The Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment is the world’s opportunity to rise to the challenge and take bold action. We can turbocharge progress in the fight against HIV, TB and malaria, regaining ground lost during the pandemic and getting back on track toward finally ending these three pandemics by 2030. We can also deliver a step change in pandemic preparedness, strengthening the overall resilience of systems for health by investing in their capacities to prevent, detect and respond to new health threats. By taking an integrated approach to the pursuit of these two complementary objectives, we can maximize the impact of every dollar.

(From the Investment Case for the Seventh Replenishment)

 

 

The Global Fund’s target for the Seventh Replenishment is to raise at least 18 billion USD to fight HIV, TB and malaria and build stronger systems for health. It is estimated that one-third (6 billion USD) will be investments in health systems that both support the ongoing fight against HIV, TB and malaria and reinforce pandemic preparedness.

These funds will be used to:

  • Help the world #GetBackOnTrack to end AIDS, TB and malaria as epidemics, and save 20 million lives between 2024 and 2026.
  • Reduce the death toll across the three diseases to 950,000 in 2026, down from 25 million in 2020.
  • Avert more than 450 million infections through reducing the incidence rate by 58% across the three diseases by 2026.

The civil society is coming together to celebrate The Global Week of Action.  It is co-organised by the Civil Society for Malaria Elimination (CS4ME), Global Fund Advocates Network (GFAN), GFAN Africa, and GFAN Asia-Pacific (GFAN AP), and follows the #LoveMoreGiveMore campaign carried out with partners during the Sixth Replenishment in 2019.

This Global Week of Action is hoping to mobilise communities and civil society collectively to:

  • Create momentum around the Seventh Replenishment of the Global Fund at the national, regional, and global levels through gathering communities and civil society to come together collectively through action.
  • Raise awareness through the diplomatic channels of donor embassies of the Global Fund for the Seventh Replenishment using key messages of the Investment Case presented at the Preparatory Meeting.
  • Build and/or strengthen partnerships nationally, including with donor embassies.

 

Montenegro: Benchmarking sustainability of the HIV response among Key Populations in the context of transition from Global Fund support to domestic funding

Posted on by Milutin

The Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) published document “Benchmarking sustainability of the HIV response among Key Populations in the context of transition from Global Fund support to domestic funding” within the framework of the regional project ‘Sustainability of Services for Key Populations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia’. This publication was prepared by Mr. Vladan Golubović, EHRA Consultant

The aim of this analysis is to assess the fulfillment of the commitments given by the Government of Montenegro aimed to ensure the sustainability of the HIV response among KPs in the context of the country’s transition from Global Fund support to national funding. The results of the assessment are expected to be used to assist CSO’s, key affected communities and partners to remain more informed and engaged in the monitoring of the transition process from donor to domestic funding and to thereby advocate for the implementation of activities that will lead to the sustainability of the national HIV response.

This assessment was conducted using the Methodological Guide and Transition Monitoring Tool (TMT) developed by EHRA. A number of national commitments contributing to ensuring sustainability of the HIV response were identified and prioritised and subsequently analysed based on available data, as well as information from key informants. The assessment was conducted and led by two national reviewers with the support of local HIV experts and representatives of affected communities from organisations involved in advocacy and service delivery for KAPs and PLHIV (the national reference group).

The analysis is available following this link>>>.

 

Global Fund Board Approves New Strategy 2023-2028

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From the EECA Regional Platform for Communication and Coordination communication

The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria approved the new Global Fund Strategy: Fighting Pandemics and Building a Healthier and More Equitable World. The new Strategy places people and communities front and center of the fight against HIV, TB, malaria and accelerates the shift to more integrated, people-centered models of prevention, treatment and care. Strengthening the leadership and engagement of communities living with and affected by the diseases will reinforce this unique strength of the Global Fund partnership and tackle barriers to effective participation and leadership.

In addition, the Board approved the planned operating expenses (OPEX) budget of US$322 million for 2022 bringing the total OPEX investment to US$930 million for the 2020-2022 cycle to sustain achievements and transition to the new Strategy cycle, and a new global disease split for the 2023-2025 allocation methodology. At amounts for country allocations up to and including US$12 billion, the split of 50% for HIV, 18% for TB and 32% for malaria will be applied. A new split of 45% for HIV, 25% for TB and 30% for malaria will be applied to additional amounts above US$12 billion.

The Board also approved the new model for the Global Fund Independent Evaluation Function which establishes an Independent Evaluation Panel (IEP) and creates a Chief Evaluation and Learning Officer (CELO) function.

Recognizing the significant impact of COVID-19 on the Global Fund’s operating environment and risk landscape, the Board recalled its ultimate responsibility to the Global Fund’s stakeholders for overseeing the implementation of effective risk management. While supporting the increased risk appetite, Board members stressed the importance of actively mitigating risk, especially at a country level, and instructed the Secretariat to provide greater granular reporting on emerging risk trends and the effectiveness and results of the assurance measures, including the assurances put in place.

Ahead of the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment next year, and less than a decade to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the Board called the entire partnership to mobilize to increase financial resources to fight the three diseases. The grants based upon the new Strategy will start in January 2024 with funds from the upcoming Seventh Replenishment.

For more details, please follow this link>>>.

 

New Global Fund’s Technical Assistance Program

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From the EECA Regional Platform established by the Global Fund

The Global Fund’s Community, Rights and Gender (CRG) Technical Assistance (TA) Program started it’s new phase of the implementation as a part of the Global Fund’s CRG Strategic Initiative.

You may find all relevant information about this short-term technical assistance program available at the new page at the Global Fund’s website following this link>>>.

Please, be informed that the CRG Department updated the list of CRG technical assistance providers for the 2021-2023 implementation period. Also, new CRG TA Request Form is available (the old one is not applicable anymore) as well as an example of the High-quality TA Request.

The CRG technical assistance is available in 3 main areas of work:

  • Situational analysis and needs assessments
  • Country dialogue
  • Supporting design and implementation arrangements.

For more details please see the CRG Technical Assistance Guidance Note.

CRG Technical Assistance does NOT support:

  • CCM strengthening (e.g. training of CCM members in their roles and responsibilities);
  • Long-term capacity development of civil society networks and organizations (e.g. organizational development, support to become a Global Fund recipient);
  • Development of stand-alone tools that lack a focus on community engagement;
  • Funding request writing.

The short-term nature of technical assistance foresees that community experts can be deployed for approximately 30 days over a period of up to three months.

Also, if you have any questions regarding the CRG TA Program or you need any assistance with development of the request – please feel free to contact Ivan Varentsov at ivan@harmreductioneurasia.org as the coordinator of the EECA Regional Platform for Communication and Coordination supported by the Global Fund.

 

Request For Proposals for EECA HIV multi-country grant

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The Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) is one of the three regions globally where the HIV epidemic is increasing. In 2019, the incidence/prevalence ratio was higher than in any other part of the world: 10.1. The number of people living with HIV in the region was 1.7 million; the number of new HIV infections was 170,000 and the number of AIDS-related deaths – 35,000. In 2019, according to the data for testing and treatment cascade, 70% of people living with HIV knew their status, 44% of people living with HIV were on treatment, and 41% of people living with HIV were virally suppressed.

The HIV epidemic remains concentrated in key populations in EECA countries. Key populations and their sexual partners are disproportionately impacted, accounting for 99% of new HIV infections in 2019. Addressing the HIV epidemic would require an interlinked set of measures focused on improving sustainable access of key populations to quality prevention, diagnostics, treatment and care; improving efficiency and quality of HIV service delivery models; and building financial sustainability of provision of services tailored to the needs of key populations

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the “Global Fund”) is seeking proposals from regional stakeholders to implement a multicountry program under Catalytic Investments for the 2020-2022 allocation period.

The multi-country grant should contribute to sustainable and significant reduction of infections, illness and death by HIV/AIDS in EECA, with a clearly described theory of change and proposed specific actions and performance metrics.

Of the US$ 50,000,000 made available for this strategic priority area, this RFP refers to the US$ 13,000,000 made available under the multicountry priority area “Sustainability of services for key populations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia region”.

To read applicants guidelines for this request, please follow this link>>>.

 

Global Fund COVID-19 Response Mechanism allocations in SEE

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The Global Fund is providing immediate funding to help countries fight COVID-19, mitigate the impacts on lifesaving HIV, TB and malaria programs, and prevent fragile health systems from being overwhelmed, through grant flexibilities and the COVID-19 Response Mechanism.

Grant flexibilities allow countries with current grants to use up to 5% of their current grant value if there are savings, and/ reprogram up to 5% of the value of a grant to meet immediate COVID-19 response requirements. The COVID-19 Response Mechanism (C19RM) can be used across the three diseases and the health system, even if a country only has a single Global Fund grant for one component.

The Global Fund published the information about allocations so far on 27 October 2020. From the COVID-19 Response Mechanism a total of 592,493,744 USD was allocated for mitigating COVID-19 impact on HIV, TB and malaria programs, reinforcing national COVID-19 response (other response and COVID-19 diagnostic tests) and urgent improvements in health and community systems.

Out of this amount, four SEE countries and the Multi-country HIV East Europe and Central Asia #SOS_project received

In addition, from the Grant Flexibilities 216,092,754 USD was approved to 107 countries and multicountries out of which three countries and the Multi-country project received:

 

 

See better in the document we created following this link>>>.

 

Joint input into the Global Fund Strategy Development from CEECA region

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On September 1st the document named “Joint input into the Global Fund Strategy Development from key affected communities and civil society from CEECA region” was send to the Global Fund in a response to an earlier invitation from the Global Fund to join the Open Consultation to Inform the Development of its new Post-2022 StrategyStrategy.

Discussions were organized by the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) and involved key regional networks that unite key affected communities and civil society organizations working in the Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (CEECA) region. Initial focus-group discussion was held on June 25th during the Regional Partners’ coordination call organized by the Regional Civil Society and Community Support, Coordination and Communication Platform – Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA).

The resulting draft document was circulated for comments during August 2020 among the leaders of the following nine regional networks and organizations of civil society and key affected communities that unite hundreds of national community-based entities as well as civil society groups in 29 countries of the region:

  • Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA)
  • Eurasian Coalition on Health, Rights, Gender and Sexual Diversity (ECOM)
  • TB Europe Coalition (TBEC)
  • Center for Health policies and Studies (Center PAS)
  • Alliance for Public Health (APH)
  • Eurasian Key Populations Health Network (EKHN)
  • AFEW International
  • Regional Expert Group on Migration and Health
  • Sex Workers’ Rights Advocacy Network (SWAN)
  • Eurasian union of adolescents and young people Teenergizer

 You may find the resulted document following this link: https://eecaplatform.org/en/joint-input/.