AIDS Council to Develop New Strategic Plan. 20/10/10
The plan would be aligned to the Millennium Development Goals.
By Charleen Munhenga
20 October 2010
Harare — The National Aids Council has embarked on a nationwide consultative process to develop an evidence-based and results-focused five-year plan.
The Zimbabwe National HIV and Aids Strategic Plan will cover 2011 to 2015 and will replace the current strategy, which expires at the end of this year after being initiated in 2006.
NAC communications manager Ms Made-line Dube said the plan would be aligned to the Millennium Development Goals.
"The new plan is being built on the achievements and lessons learnt from the implementation of the current ZNASP to set results for the national response and provide a framework for concerted action on HIV and Aids at national, provincial and district levels.
"The new strategic plan is expected to identify and accentuate the country's priorities in the national response and will significantly benefit from evidence from the recent Modes of Transmission Study," she said.
Ms Dube said the Modes of Transmission Study sought to characterise the nature of Zimbabwe's pandemic and identify sources of new HIV infections.
"The study is focused on the current response initiatives and their strengths as well as underlying gender dynamics, which will greatly inform the content and priorities of the new strategic plan.
"The process will include identifying key results, defining activities, interventions and costs to achieve the results as well as formulating strategic and operational plans.
"A monitoring and evaluation plan will also be developed to back the strategic plan. In preparation, thematic strategy development working groups have already been established to lead the development of the plan."
These are prevention, treatment, and care support; mitigation; monitoring and evaluation; and management of the response.
Ms Dube said NAC would have a series of consultative meetings to gather views.
Stakeholders who may not be able to attend the meetings are invited to submit their input in writing to NAC offices countrywide.