HIV/AIDS Monitoring and Evaluation Systems Strengthening for the National AIDS Program in Albania

The Institute of Public Health (IPH) is the Principal Recipient (PR) of the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria Round 5 HIV/AIDS and TB grants. The GF HIV Grant is highly targeted, aimed at filling key gaps in the national response to HIV/AIDS. Albania is considered a low HIV prevalence country based on the number of reported cases. The work presented in this paper is carried out as part of the Monitoring and evaluation framework development in respect to the National AIDS strategy and Global Fund agreement. The performance framework consists of a range of indicators agreed by the PR (IPH in Albania), and specific targets to be met on an annual base. The PR must, therefore, be able to measure its performance against this framework in order to demonstrate that it is meeting its targets. To assist this process, the GFATM requires PRs to undertake an assessment of their capacity to monitor and evaluate the program, and put in place measures to strengthen any identified weaknesses. The Global Fund's M&E Systems Strengthening Tool, MESST, was used. The MESST is conducted via a participatory workshop involving the PR, SRs,(Subrecipients) some representatives of the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM), the donor community and other stakeholders or implementing partners relevant to the exercise. The proposed output for this exercise is an M&E Action Plan for the PR. A 2-day MESST workshop was held in Tirana, Albania. Participants at the workshop assessed the M&E capacity of the national HIV program, and its implementers, the IPH and the sub recipients (SRs), by looking at three elements of the M&E system. These are: The Monitoring and Evaluation Plan, The ability of collate and analyze data at the IPH, The reporting systems in the health facilities, the community and the laboratories, The result was identification of a range of strengths and weaknesses, and from these, the development of a list of key actions to address the weaknesses identified.