New PEPFAR Blueprint Outlines Areas of Collaboration with the Global Fund

Author:

David Garmaise

Article Type:

Article Number: 6

ABSTRACT The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief has promised to step up its collaboration with the Global Fund in countries where both organisations are investing.

The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has entered a new era of cooperation with the Global Fund, one that institutionalises joint planning and implementation in countries where both organisations are investing.

This is one of the themes of PEPFAR’s new action plan released by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in November. The action plan, entitled “PEPFAR Blueprint: Creating an AIDS-Free Generation,” provides a strategic road map for saving lives and striving for an AIDS-free generation. The blueprint constitutes PEPFAR’s contribution to the fight against AIDS.

One of the many action steps included in the blueprint is to expand collaboration with multilateral and bilateral partners. The blueprint described the Global Fund as “a critical multilateral vehicle for enlisting public and private sector donors” and said that in leading the Global Fund’s reform agenda, the US government has “helped the Fund to strengthen its promise as an efficient, long-term channel for funding evidence-based, high-impact interventions.”

The blueprint said that PEPFAR will continue to work with the Global fund “in a coordinated, complementary and synergistic manner.” For example, the blueprint said, PEPFAR will work with the Global Fund to harmonise monitoring, evaluation, and expenditure analysis and reporting practices.

According to the blueprint, PEPFAR will expand its engagement with the donor community – including the Global Fund, the World Bank and U.S. government agencies – “to better measure and track external and internal funding flows for health, and to support greater transparency and accountability in the deployment of those resources.”

The blueprint said that PEPFAR will strengthen its technical assistance efforts in these areas and will work with the Global Fund to identify areas where additional technical support is required, including programme quality, transition and scale-up of Global Fund–financed services, and use of strategic information to improve planning.