The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Country Coordinator is seeking to engage a national consultant to assist in the implementation of the HIV investment framework in Zimbabwe, according to Tawanda Chisango, UNAIDS Information and Communications Officer for Zimbabwe.
by Wallace Mawire
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Country Coordinator is seeking to engage a national consultant to assist in the implementation of the HIV investment framework in Zimbabwe, according to Tawanda Chisango, UNAIDS Information and Communications Officer for Zimbabwe.
According to Chisango, the consultant will carry out the work for six months, starting on 15 October 2012.
UNAIDS reports that Zimbabwe is one of the high impact countries with a significant burden of HIV.
“There is sustained political commitment and will help to curb the HIV epidemic in Zimbabwe. HIV response is an integral part of the national development plan, and health and other sector development strategies,” UNAID reports.
lt is also reported that significant successes have been recorded in the HIV response in Zimbabwe. Adult HIV incidence has remained on the decline for the last ten years and last year access to adult ART and PMTCT exceeded 80%. Zimbabwe’s National AIDS Strategic Plan 2011-15 is highly prioritised around the Three Zeroes and the High Level Meeting targets.
Donors operating in Zimbabwe are said to be very committed and align their support strategies with the national priorities and plans. AIDS levy collection has been increasing steadily.
“At the same time, the country’s response is still largely dependent on external resources. Mechanisms for tracking domestic and donor resource allocation and spending require strengthening. Opportunities for domestic investment have not been exhaustively explored and tapped. Systematic effectiveness/efficiency analysis has not been undertaken yet. Opportunities for reducing the costs of the response have been explored only sporadically,” UNAIDS states.
UNAIDS describes Zimbabwe as being committed to ensuring sustainable resourcing of the HIV response and other priority health and development programmes and initiatives, increasing domestic and sustaining donor funding of the HIV response, analysing and increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the responses implemented by the public sector, civil society and communities, and reducing costs of the response through a set of appropriate measures.
“The country has adopted the new HIV investment framework as a tool to optimise the programmatic and the financial side of the disease response. The purpose of the consultancy is to coordinate, facilitate and provide and broker support in the implementation of the HIV investment framework in Zimbabwe,” UNAIDS reports.
The consultant will work under the supervision of the UNAIDS Country Coordinator in close collaboration with the National AIDS Council and the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare and in coordination with other public sector, civil society and community stakeholders and international organisation.
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