CategoriesAfNHI WACI Health News

Investing in women, children, and nutrition is not optional. The world’s future depends on it

The global health financing landscape has drastically changed since the end of 2019. The emergence of Covid-19 dramatically increased the need and urgency for investment in global health and additional funds have been needed to respond to the pandemic and its direct and indirect consequences.

Overall, countries around the world are not on track to meet the World Health Organization’s Sustainable Development Goal of reducing maternal mortality. While the global maternal mortality rate fell 38% from 2000 to 2017 — a significant achievement — this is still less than half the annual rate needed to achieve the goal of less than 70 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030.

In many countries, the lack of access to universal basic health care has hampered the pandemic response, while the pressure of Covid-19 has overwhelmed vulnerable systems, undermining the provision of maternal and child health and the administration of routine vaccination programs. These setbacks are likely to affect child and population health for years to come and reverse hard-won gains.

Source: STAT

CategoriesAfNHI WACI Health News

HIV Vaccine Awareness Day Celebration

AfNHi this year culminated the HVAD celebrations by having a VUKA Show that was targeting young people’s voices on the progress of the HIV vaccine. In public health history, it’s important to note the greatest impact in eradicating or controlling infectious diseases has successfully been achieved through vaccination. However, most of the current HIV prevention methods need regular adherence or daily use. To help end the epidemic, an HIV vaccine which provides long-lasting protection is necessary. Our panel of speakers were hosted by our very own AfNHi Youth cohort member, Ituleleng Mothlabane, and featured a Kenyan clinical researcher Dr Charlene Biwott, and a medical doctor from Nigeria, Dr Progress Agbola. Key highlights of the panel conversation included discussions around the progress the HIV Vaccine development has made to date, amidst the urgent need that would be met by having a vaccine available in the near future.

CategoriesAfNHI

The world still needs a safe, effective, affordable and accessible HIV Vaccine despite disruptions by COVID 19,

HIV Vaccine Awareness Day (HVAD) is observed today, the 18th of May to recognize the many volunteers, community members, health professionals, and scientists working to develop a safe, accessible, affordable and effective preventive HIV vaccine key to ending the HIV and AIDS epidemic. HVAD is also an opportunity to educate communities about the importance of preventive HIV vaccine research. HIV research also includes efforts to develop a vaccine for HIV treatment called a therapeutic vaccine, a safe and effective therapeutic HIV vaccine could prevent HIV from advancing to AIDS, replace daily use of HIV medicines, and eliminate HIV from the body. In public health history, it’s important to note the greatest impact in eradicating or controlling infectious diseases has successfully been achieved through vaccination. To help end the epidemic, an HIV vaccine which provides long-lasting protection is necessary to save lives.

While significant progress in reducing HIV and AIDS epidemic has been made through treatment and prevention programs, the rate of new HIV infections still remains unacceptably high. SubSaharan Africa accounts for 70% of the global infection (25.6 million people living with HIV). In addition, the continent has the highest incidence of HIV infections, especially among Adolescents, Girls and young women and young people, thus a preventive HIV vaccine is needed now more than ever before.

Over the last two years, the world has seen unparalleled innovation, investments, and collaboration. The rapid development and rollout of new COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and tests have transformed the global fight. The transformative advances that are being achieved in the response to COVID-19 could be harnessed to establish strategic and strong collaborations for the HIV and COVID-19 scientific communities. These overlapping epidemics represent an opportunity to extend cross-disciplinary research into the integrated service delivery for HIV and COVID-19 and aim to achieve sustained benefits of prevention and treatment

Lessons learnt from the COVID 19 Vaccines: in the context of introduction and rollout of
an HIV Vaccine

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to accelerated research efforts globally and highlighted the importance of community engagement and leadership in the COVID-19 response, partnerships between science, government, and affected communities are crucial for success. Strong community engagement and empowerment facilitate a two-way communication through which concerns can be addressed. Few countries have sufficient access to these life-saving tools. Manufacturing and regulatory delays curtailed the ability of the lower and lower and middleincome countries to adequately plan and scale up vaccination campaigns as efficiently as highincome countries.

In addition, the health sector has had to deal with many concerns about how vaccines are developed, their potential side effects and how to assess effectiveness. While it is challenging to introduce any new vaccine, ensuring uptake of COVID-19 vaccination presented additional complexities. To be fully effective, vaccination must reach and be accepted by the intended target groups in each country while ensuring strengthening community engagement.

Our African prosperity lies in our human capital therefore critical to invest and save the lives of African people by implementing of learnings of the COVID 19 vaccines while undertaking research to give the world an effective, affordable, accessible and a safe preventive and therapeutic HIV vaccine; the governments, funders and world leaders should consider too;

HIV VACCINES:

Build strong and resilient political will to invest in the delivery of an effective, safe, affordable and accessible HIV Vaccine to end the HIV epidemic
· Efficient and effective delivery of existing and new HIV prevention tools – to curb new infections, avert more deaths and boost the economy of our nations.
· Investing at least 2% of National health budgets in Health research and development (Health R&D)
· All governments and research institutions must ensure vaccine trials are well-conducted and adhere to ethical and meaningful engagement of communities and all stakeholders
· Improve research infrastructure in Africa to promote homegrown solutions

COVID 19 VACCINES:

Vaccines for Africa must be manufactured and procured in Africa for African people to save lives
· Waive the IP protections — including patents, industrial designs, copyrights, and undisclosed information — guarded by the WTO’s agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, or TRIPS, as proposed by South Africa and India.
· Sustain the level of political and financial commitment needed to control COVID-19 and end the pandemic

Correspondences Contact: AfNHi Coordinator, Ms Joyce Nganga at joyce@wacihealth.org

CategoriesWACI Health News

Zero Malaria Campaign Coalition seeks to end disease

A deadly disease is stealing young futures in Africa and claiming the life of a child every 60 seconds – that is 1300 children dying every day.

Malaria continues to be a significant public health problem in Kenya. The entire population of Kenya is at risk from malaria, including those most vulnerable to the disease, specifically children and pregnant women.

Malaria not only impacts on health but has a crippling socio-economic impact. Every day, malaria hits the very poorest communities hardest. It keeps kids out of school, adults out of work, and communities stuck in a cycle of poverty they can’t escape.  Despite the challenges, this is one fight we can win. Malaria is preventable and treatable, we have more tools now than ever before to prevent, diagnose and treat it.

Enormous strides

Kenya has made enormous strides in the fight against malaria thanks to concerted national efforts by government, partners and communities; shrinking the malaria map, reducing deaths by 2 per cent and saving millions of lives.

The global fight against malaria national malaria fight is becoming the biggest public health success story in history and fighting against  malaria is ranked as one of the most cost-effective global health interventions and Kenya is determined to maintain momentum in spite of the effects of Covid-19.

The pandemic has pushed global health to the forefront of the international agenda, underlining the need to build strong national health systems capable of protecting citizens from infectious diseases and delivering healthy lives.

Source : Nation.africa

CategoriesGFF We Want

Recommendations to improve support for RMNCAH-N

The GFF CSOs advocates should strongly call for increased engagement and participation of the local communities in addressing challenges in delivering RMNCAH-N. Accountability should be enhanced across the entire ecosystem identifying and holding the different stakeholders (e.g., government, CSOs, Faith-based institutions, citizens, youth, Donors) to account for the unique
roles that they play. The GFF should also push governments to stick to the GFF conditions ofadditionality” in order to unlock additional funds to improve health outcomes for women, children and adolescents. The GFF should advocate for the increased participation of CSOs and youth given that they are the linkage between the GFF and the local communities. Increased
knowledge of the existing GFF framework will also enable a better inclusion of community voices and representation by the CSOs and the youth. Encourage participation by other donor agencies and the private sector to support the RMNCAH-N initiatives. This will enable initiatives developed that are well suited to address the challenges facing the local communities.

The GFF should push for governments to share critical information across the different partners enhancing joint accountability. Increase the community engagement in addressing the challenges faced in the RMNCAH-N initiatives. The GFF should explore opportunities to increase the participation of private sector and other donor agencies in the GFF framework. This will drive the additional growth of the funds intended to invest in RMNCAH-N initiatives in countries.

CategoriesGFF We Want

Impact of covid-19 on RMNCAH-N

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a significant death toll as well as serious health and economic problems. This impact has been felt across all demographics, prompting stakeholders to realign their priorities. The COVID-19 pandemic has altered how healthcare is managed, affecting how the government, individuals, and stakeholders approach healthcare. COVID-19
has also resulted in greater integration of hospital IT systems. The government's priorities have shifted to suit the management of COVID-19from diagnostics to treatment. The pandemic exacerbated existing inadequacies and gaps in health-care systems. Health services were overburdened, with the focus moving to the fight against COVID-19, which was often carried
out in severely understaffed and under-resourced institutions.

Some of the progress made to preserve women's and children's health, such as access to free maternal deliveries and restricted funding for family planning alternatives, was set aside by the government. Governments must evaluate shifting financial priorities and put a mechanism in place to avoid moving funds meant for essential health services such as RMNCAH-N. COVID-19 impacted all agencies (governments, donors, CSOs, and local communities) involved in supporting RMNCAH-N projects, resulting in a redirection of resources and emphasis areas away from RMNCAH-N programs and toward COVID-19 reaction. Some of the government's COVID-19 mitigation measures disrupted health services for mothers, Adolescent girls and young women, and children. Pregnant mothers had limited access to health care due to a night curfew. Governments also reduced financing for family planning programs, reproductive health clinics, and child health services in order to support the important health services identified by COVID-19 that affect young women, children, and adolescents.

Pregnancies among teenagers and young women have increased. Lockdowns and stay-at-home restrictions imposed by the government restricted people's travels away from their houses. Unfortunately, adolescent’s girls and young women were not safe at home as witnessed by an increase in teenage pregnancies and increased cases of Gender based violence.

These gains that have been made overtime have been reversed and are still at a great risk of being further reversed. To meet the massive demands on health care delivery brought on by the pandemic, telehealth was fast-tracked last year, with patients being seen and diagnosed by health practitioners via virtual portals. In a fast-evolving crisis like COVID-19, responders and decision-makers needed timely data about the spread of the disease in order to protect the communities. Innovative use of digital solutions has been identified as a safe and effective way to reach people.

CategoriesAfNHI Article

COVID 19 AND LACK OF FUNDING NEGATING GAINS HIV PROGRESS

Stakeholders have warned that COVID 19 disruptions are likely to set back efforts made in curbing HIV infections back to ten years or more. According to UNAIDS’ new report released in July 2020, while securing antiretroviral therapy has been steadily improving, the progress is inequitable. In its report, Seizing the moment, the World Bank warns that if we don’t act, even the gains made will be lost. To reach the Millions still left behind, nations must double down and work with more urgency.

Unequal progress

Prevention of new HIV infections in Africa is far behind the rest of the world. Nearly two million people were newly infected with the virus, more than three times the global target. Seizing the moment report shows unequal progress, leaving behind vulnerable people and populations. For example, infected key populations such as gay men and their partners, men who have sex with men, sex workers, drug users and people in prison, accounted for 62 per cent of these new HIV infections. Women and girls from marginalised communities face barriers to accessing reproductive health services, especially contraception and HIV services. Those living with HIV/AIDS face stigma. A total of 59 per cent of all new HIV infections in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2019 were among women and girls, with 4500 girls and young women between 15 and 24 years old becoming infected every week. Thus, a growing number of young women are getting HIV infection, despite only making up 10 per cent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa.

Exclusion, stigma and discrimination

Social inequity and exclusion, stigma and discrimination have proven to be significant obstacles in curbing the new HIV infections. At least 82 countries criminalise HIV transmission, exposure, or non-disclosure, 103 criminalise sex work, and 108 criminalise the use, possession, or consumption of HIV related drugs.

Progress in targets

There is, however, a significant reduction in HIV transmission levels where comprehensive HIV services are provided. In addition, combining proactive medical practices with social and economic support for young women in Eswatini, Lesotho, and South Africa has narrowed inequality gaps and driven down the incidence of new HIV infections. Fourteen countries have achieved the 90–90–90 HIV treatment targets (90% of people living with HIV know their HIV status, of whom 90% are on antiretroviral treatment and of whom 90% are virally suppressed), including Eswatini, which has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world, at 27% in 2019, and which has now surpassed the targets to achieve 95–95–95. The expansion of antiretroviral therapy has saved countless lives.

However, in 2019, 690 000 people died of AIDS-related illnesses in 2019, and 12.6 million of the 38 million people living with HIV did not receive life-saving treatment. Although progress has been made, it is masking the lack of progress and challenges that continue to persist, threatening the progress made during the past decade, with tragic consequences for people’s lives, economies, and health security. Again, Sub-Saharan Africa is most affected.

A case for biomedical research

Reducing new HIV infections need to be a deliberate act in Africa. It is imperative that the locally tailored, evidence- based, and community-owned programs be tailored to sustainably reduce new HIV infections.

In the just-concluded 5th  Biomedical HIV Prevention Forum (BHPF) hosted virtually in South Africa which focused on Financing of HIV Prevention Research in Africa, findings revealed that most countries did not have funding for biomedical research, and where research happened, it was mostly donor-driven.

To achieve Africa free of New HIV infections (AfNHi)’s vision of ending new HIV infections in Africa, the BHPF aims at mobilising scientific knowledge and building bridges between science and policy. In addition to mapping potential for collaborative national and regional activities within the AfNHi network, the forum looks to strengthen connections between policy and research through information exchange with HIV prevention advocates.

Reporting on the state of funding biomedical research in Africa, Dr Caleb Mulongo, in his research findings based on four countries; Kenya, Rwanda, Eswatini and Malawi noted that none of the four countries met the recommended allocation of two per cent of a country’s domestic budget to biomedical research.

While the Abuja Declaration targets that 15 per cent of the national budget be allocated to the health docket, none of the four studied countries (Kenya, Rwanda Eswatini and Malawi) met the target. The highest was Malawi with 11.5 per cent, with Kenya reporting the lowest allocation at less than seven per cent. Rwanda allocated about eight per cent while Eswatini allocated about nine per cent of their national budget to health.

When it comes to research allocation, Malawi set aside 1.06 per cent, which was the highest allocation from the studied countries. Eswatini had the least allocation, at 0.3 per cent.  Kenya allocated 0.79 per cent while Rwanda 0.27 per cent. It is evident low allocation in the health sector which is not adequate to support quality and universal coverage of health means there is very little if any funding to allocate to biomedical research.

More than underfunding

The mini-BHPF conferences held in Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Cote d’Ivoire, presented during the main BHPF forum had similar findings, that their respective countries had not prioritized biomedical research for preventing new HIV infections. More challenges beyond funding were nevertheless noted. There was a lack of expertise in writing proposals, those in charge do not know how to bind for funds to support their activities and where research was conducted, it was noted that because it was donor-driven, it did not particularly prioritise local issues, but rather ran with the donors’ agenda.

Own the process

A challenge has been thrown to African governments to invest more in biomedical research for HIV prevention funding, as well as invest in making sure systems are in place for translating findings into actions. A case of Malawi was noted, whose National Research Council of Malawi (NRCM) is domiciled in the Office of the President. This positioning is thought to be responsible for the higher allocations in the Health docket, hence elevating research as a national priority.

Other stakeholders including advocates for change, Civil Society and communities, Researchers and Front-line providers were called upon to keep the momentum for biomedical research HIV prevention funding, by pushing for better allocations of funds, elevating the discussion to the national level where policymakers sit and as well as information sharing across the countries.

 

 

 

 

CategoriesGFF We Want

A GFF that supports CSOs and enhances their capacity to engage with governments adequately

Civil society organizations have continued to support the GFF through advocacy in the GFF implementing countries eg CSOs in Senegal, for example, reported that their participation in all stages of the investment case development contributed to the national decision to go beyond traditional health issues and include nutrition, national statistics (such as birth registration), and
gender equality as investment case priorities. Scorecards were produced by CSOs in implementing countries to improve financial accountability and transparency. These scorecards assess the progress of initiatives established to support RMNCAH-N programs in their respective nations to enhance joint accountability.

CSOs are mobilizing support for investments to support RMNCAH-N projects. Civil society organizations are pushing donor markets to invest in the GFF resource mobilization. CSOs in recipient countries are working to persuade governments to invest domestic resources and also do solidarity pledges during the GFF resource mobilization efforts. CSOs have been essential in
supporting and urging governments to identify and solve critical health issues. CSOs have played an important role in country decision-making processes, as well as in monitoring community concerns and needs in order to protect and promote crucial services, as well as accelerate progress on health outcomes for women, children, and adolescents.

The use of scorecards and the “CSO how to Guide” developed by advocates has made it easier to understand the GFF framework at national level and the scorecards to track government expenditure, resulting in greater support and allocations to RMNCAH-N services in implementing countries. In Ethiopia – CSOs participated in a GFF workshop in Nigeria, where they were learnt on how to evaluate their investment case and identify the quantities of funding available from the World Bank and IDA. Sierra Leone- CSOs used the GFF How to guides to engage with World Bank and government authorities to promote information sharing, resulting in greater openness in the use of funds. CSOs in Liberia CSOs were able to track success at the facility level, assisting in identifying progress of RMNCAH-N programs in their country and unlocking more monies from donors. CSOs were allowed to request access to information on how the GFF monies were being used by the Ministry of Finance by using the scorecards and
how to Guides.

In the course of implementing the advocacy initiatives CSOs face many challenges such as i. inadequate collaboration amongst CSOs though a lot of efforts have gone into this ii. Countries do not have coordinated health plans showing linkages between the various country efforts that they are aiming to be met iii. The lack of country focus was also noted in meeting vaccination
needs of children and maternal health. Some countries (e.g., Angola) were noted to have budgets for COVID-19 but not funds for other diseases that adversely affect their populations e.g., Polio, Malaria. iii. CSOs also lack the capacity around budget advocacy and analysis iv. There is little transparency around Government’s funding and how disbursements and expenditure is done.

CategoriesGFAN Africa

Young People Take on the Global Week of Action

During the Global Action week, WACI Health convened a young people round table dubbed youth extravaganza that brought together differPicture1ent youth organizations ,adolescent girls ,and young women in Kenya  to learn more on how they could contribute to the success  of the Global fund objectives of fighting HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. The meeting was an opportunity for the participants to interact with representatives from  from the Global Fund Secretariat ,and the Global Fund Advocates Network in Africa and to join in a fun filled activity of folding paper origamis that would later be sent to the embassies in solidarity ,and messaging of the 7th replenishment campaign.

From the meeting, the young people learnt that the Global Fund is involving young people through the youth council ,and through utilizing social media platforms to amplify the voices of young people to be involved in the #FightForWhatCounts campaign.

For the seventh replenishment the Global Fund needs a minimum of US$18 billion to get the world back on track toward ending HIV, TB ,and Malaria to build resilient ,sustainable systems for health ,and strengthen pandemic preparedness. The Global Fund investment case lays out important milestones ,and highlights the need to invest more funds into the Global Fund  as the main strategy to fight for what counts and protect everyone, everywhere from the deadliest infectious diseases and build a healthier, more equitable world.

Investing in health and community systems and specifically in pandemic preparedness is above all about making smart and sustainable investments in people. Putting people and communities at the center helps build the trust that is the vital foundation for any pandemic response. By combining increased investment in HIV, TB ,and Malaria interventions and strengthening systems for health with additional investments in pandemic preparedness through the Global Fund, we should maximize the impact of every dollar. Through this, we stand a chance of having a return on investment, i.e., for every dollar given 31 dollars will be given back in return once healthcare systems are fully inclusive ,and operational.

Often the role of the youth is ceremonial or relegated to social media ,and communication while they have the capacity to engage in the decision making processes. The Global Fund Youth Council is working with young people to bring out the unique perspective ,and collate inputs on how services can be improved for young people including young key populations. Young people will work with the Global Fund on innovative, person centered approaches to reach young people in all their diversity affected by the three diseases.

Pictdure1

Now is the time to fight for what counts, to get back on track to ending the pandemics so the beat loudly ,and proudly continues for healthy communities and a more equitable world free from fear of deadly infections.

To join the network of young people engaged in the Global Fund replenishment fill in your details in the link here 

CategoriesGFF We Want

Financing mechanism for the GFF: A GFF that responds to the country’s needs

The GFF financing mechanism focus on smart financing, bringing programs to scale by leveraging much larger sums of domestic government resources, International Development Assistance (IDA) and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) financing, aligned external financing, and private sector resources. The GFF employs a variety of tactics and processes to achieve its objectives. Among them are:

 

  1. investment cases, which are nationwide, evidence-based plans that prioritize high-impact interventions to achieve results and identify bottlenecks to achievement;
  2. financing mobilization for investment cases;
  3. complementary financing of the investment case;
  4. increased government investment forRMNCAH-N;
  5. innovative engagement of global and local private sector resources; and (vi)
    health financing strategies focused on sustainability.

As of June 2020, the GFF had directly spent roughly USD 602 million in grants linked to approximately USD 4.7 billion in World Bank IDA/IBRD funding and assisted in aligning significantly greater quantities of domestic and foreign financing in support of GFF partner country investment proposals.

The GFF has been instrumental in supporting Ministries of Health (MoH) to mobilize additional funding for RMNCAH-N. For example, Kenya’s RMNCAH+N investment case recognized that sustained and additional domestic financing would be critical to the successful implementation of RMNCAH-N activities in the country. MoH Kenya developed a roadmap for Universal Health
Coverage (UHC) and a health financing strategy geared toward additional domestic resources and aligning support from development partners to achieve UHC in order to ensure sustainable financing for RMNCAH-N and address health financing fragmentation.

During the previous GFF replenishment in Oslo in 2018, USD one billion in pledges were generated and linked to an extra USD 7.5 billion in World Bank IDA/IBRD resources for the health and nutrition of women, children, and adolescents. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Burkina Faso, Canada, Côte d’Ivoire, the European Commission, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Laerdal Global Health, the Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, and the United Kingdom were among those who contributed to the fund. Norway was the greatest contributor to the fund, accounting for 35.8 percent of the money raised. The $1 billion in contributions was critical in achieving the GFF’s goal of expanding its presence to 50 countries with the greatest needs in order to alter how health and nutrition are funded. Following the replenishment, the GFF announced nine new nations have joined in May 2019, bringing the overall number of GFF-supported countries to 36.