Detailed Mechanism Funding and Narrative

Years of mechanism: 2011 2012 2013

Details for Mechanism ID: 13320
Country/Region: Zimbabwe
Year: 2012
Main Partner: University of Washington
Main Partner Program: NA
Organizational Type: University
Funding Agency: HHS/HRSA
Total Funding: $2,926,917

The International Training and Education Center on HIV (I-TECH), founded in 2002, is a collaboration between the University of Washington (UW) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). I-TECHs mission emphasizes working with local partners to develop skilled healthcare workers, strengthening national health systems, and ensuring sustainability by promoting local ownership. I-TECHs strengths lie in the areas of health system strengthening, health workforce development, operations research and evaluation, and prevention, care and treatment of infectious diseases. Since 2003, I-TECH has supported programs in Zimbabwe in care and treatment (HTXS), tuberculosis (TB/HIV), and laboratory infrastructure (LAB).

I-TECH's overall goal in Zimbabwe is to provide technical assistance to strengthen government health systems and to ensure that health care providers deliver high-quality care for HIV/AIDS patients, in a manner that promotes country ownership. I-TECH works in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Global AIDS Program in Zimbabwe primarily in the area of human resources for health.

For COP 2012, I-TECH will continue focusing on supporting Zimbabwe through providing technical assistance in strengthening the laboratory health systems. I-TECHs support to laboratory infrastructure is in line with GHI core principles of building sustainability through health systems strengthening, and encouraging country ownership and investing in country-led plans. (No vehicle purchases)

Funding for Laboratory Infrastructure (HLAB): $75,000

Building on COP 2011, I-TECH will continue technical assistance (TA) to build Zimbabwes laboratory systems, in line with national policies and strategic plans for TB/HIV. I-TECH will work with the Zimbabwe National Quality Assurance Programme (ZINQAP), a not-for-profit organization who assists laboratories to attain/maintain high performance. I-TECH will strengthen ZINQAP through: 1) performing an assessment of capabilities, particularly related to establishment of Lyophilisation; 2) examine the possibility of providing proficiency testing (PT) panels regionally and to include Malaria; and 3)support development of a business plan that will include recommendations for sufficient trained personnel to carry out the activities and sustain the program over time. I-TECH will collaborate with the University of British Columbia (UBC) to conduct the assessment and develop a business plan. Since 1983, UBC heads a Clinical Microbiology Proficiency Testing (CMPT) program and is the only CMPT program in North America to have been successfully registered to ISO 9000:2000 for its quality management system.

In the last year, I-TECH successfully assessed the operations at the National TB Reference Laboratory and produced 3 reports on asset management, recommended corrective actions and a prepared a plan for implementing the recommendations. COP 12 activities build upon the strength of I-TECH to expand TA to ZINQAP and NBSZ.

Funding for Biomedical Prevention: Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (CIRC): $1,413,000

Scale-up of VMMC activities. Please refer to the scale-up proposal.

Funding for Biomedical Prevention: Blood Safety (HMBL): $125,000

Additionally in COP 2012, I-TECH will provide TA to the National Blood Services of Zimbabwe (NBSZ). NBSZ will implement Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT) technology, and requires TA to establish a more current and ISO-recognized plasma processing system. I-TECH will work to strengthen NBSZ by: 1) performing an assessment on infrastructure needs, 2) evaluating developing processing blood for plasma, 3) assessing the laboratory for ISO certification, 4) collaborate with the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) on a financial model for independence and 5) in-service training of laboratory personnel based on the recommendation from the initial assessment. I-TECH will collaborate with the UCSF and the Blood Systems Research Institute (BSRI) to conduct the assessment and make recommendations.

I-TECH has improved programmatic efficiencies to allow for continued expansion of services by providing TA to National Microbiology Reference Laboratory (NMRL) to assess the molecular laboratory departments needs and gaps as well as providing mentorship build staff capacity and to provide an action plan for making the molecular biology section functional.

Funding for Treatment: Adult Treatment (HTXS): $1,313,917

Additional funds received for treatment scale-up.

Cross Cutting Budget Categories and Known Amounts Total: $100,000
Human Resources for Health $100,000