Detailed Mechanism Funding and Narrative

Details for Mechanism ID: 5520
Country/Region: Ethiopia
Year: 2007
Main Partner: World Food Program
Main Partner Program: NA
Organizational Type: Multi-lateral Agency
Funding Agency: USAID
Total Funding: $4,677,539

Funding for Care: Adult Care and Support (HBHC): $1,677,539

This is a continuation of a COP06 activity that combines Title II and PEPFAR Ethiopia resources for nutritional support of PLWHA. The partner is on track according to the original targets and workplan. Funding has been increased based on the need to reach larger numbers of clinically malnourished and food insecure PLWHA graduating from the short term facility based food-by-prescription program with community-based food and nutrition and livelihood support.

This activity is closely linked to the CSC Palliative Care (5616); CSC TB/HIV (5749), PMTCT/Health Centers and Communities (5586)and ART Service Expansion at Health Center Level, JHU (5618), ITECH (5767), UCSD (5770)CU (5772) palliative care activities. This narrative is a combination of activities "Food Support for PLWHA" (5774) and "Promote Positive Living and Self Reliance for HIV/AIDS Affected Beneficiaries of WFP Urban Nutritional Support Program" (New-1061).

The activity will complement PEPFAR resources with 12,089 MT of nutritious food with value of $6.8 mil leveraged from Title II FFP resources. PEPFAR Ethiopia will support improved nutritional status and quality of life of PLWHA through nutrition assessment, counseling and education within community and home-based care services, linkages with hospital and health center based pre-ART, ART and PMTCT services, capacity development of local HIV/AIDS committees and town HAPCO, and IGA support. The food and related operational costs will be contributed by non-PEPFAR Ethiopia sources.

During FY07 WFP will scale up food and nutrition support for PLWHA in 14 urban areas including Dire Dawa; Adama, Shashemene, Mojo and Debre Zeit in Oromiya; Debre Birhan, Bahir Dar, Gondar and Dessie in Amhara; Awassa, Dilla and Soddo in SNNPR; and Mekele in Tigray. These are some of the most populous towns in Ethiopia with high rates of HIV/AIDS infection and urban poverty.

The beneficiaries of the project are PLWHA on HIV care and treatment with clinical signs of severe malnutrition, and HIV+ women and their infants in PMTCT programs. The project also provides nutritional support to OVC. According to the findings of two surveys conducted at the end of 2004 and 2005, WFP nutrition support for PLWHA has resulted in significant improvements in the nutritional status and quality of life of its beneficiaries.

This activity will be implemented through the govt and NGO partners in the implementation areas. Each town has a Coordination Committee composed of representatives of the town, HAPCO, health bureau, health service providers, NGO partners and PLWHA associations. Nutritional support is designed to build upon and complement existing care, support and treatment activities including home based care, ART, PMTCT and educational support for orphans.

Activities central to this project are: (1) training for partners and home-based care givers and beneficiaries in HIV/AIDS and nutrition; (2) Corn Soya Blend (CSB) preparation, (3) CSB demonstration reprint; the re-print and distribute of the Famix/CSB recipe book; (4) monitoring, evaluation and impact documentation; (5) strengthening of town coordination mechanisms; (6) increasing beneficiaries' access to nutrition information and HIV/AIDS related services (including ART and PMTCT); (7) integration with selected preventive care activities including safe water and hygiene, and nutrition counseling; and (8) referral linkages with other HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment services.

PEPFAR will provide food assistance to 1,000 HIV+ pregnant and nursing women enrolled in PMTCT from their first consultation until six months after delivery, an equal number of infants born to mothers attending PMTCT from 6-24 months; 5,000 food insecure PLWHA linked with HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment services and with BMI<18.5; and 26,513 HIV/AIDS orphans attending primary schools by linking with Title II resources. In addition, 1,200 community care volunteers will be provided with monetary and other incentives.

This activity will be aligned with all ART hospitals and network health centers in 14 major urban areas and with other PEPFAR partners to integrate nutrition assessment of PLWHA in pre-ART, ART, PMTCT and postnatal care services. Standard referral formats will be used by facilities to refer malnourished PLWHA to community-based WFP food and nutrition outlets for a monthly ration, and counseling and training on the use of the food

supplement. Nutritional status will be assessed on a monthly basis to determine a discharge time from the program.

For pregnant women and nursing mothers accessing PMTCT services, food aid is expected to provide a food supplement to meet additional nutritional requirements of pregnancy and lactation, support and facilitate feeding for infants during the period of higher nutritional risk and infection (6 - 24 months), provide an incentive for mothers to attend ANC regularly and utilize PMTCT services and follow AFASS breast feeding, and act as a resource transfer to alleviate socioeconomic stress on affected households. For end- of-life clients and ART patients in food insecure households, food will provide nutritional supplement to meet the increased energy requirement to fight opportunistic infections; encourage adherence of patients taking ART, which is directly linked to treatment success; act as a resource transfer to affected households to allow them to spend more on other essential needs such as medical and school expenses.

IGA support for food insecure PLWHA is the top priority for the GOE. This activity contributes to host country efforts to improve self reliance of PLWHA and the quality of life for food insecure, unemployed PLWHA who will eventually graduate from WFP food support. Most PLWHA beneficiaries of food and nutrition support in the 14 urban areas do not have or have lost their savings, livelihoods and employment and do not have access to the government's food security program, which targets the rural population. This situation, together with increased healthcare costs, increases the vulnerability of PLWHA after discharge from food and nutrition support. Most PLWHA have no wish to be dependent on others for their survival. There are already encouraging experiences whereby some IGA participants have set up viable economic ventures. It is important that physical recovery be linked directly to economic security. IGA will, moreover, help promote a positive image of PLWHA as productive members of society by giving them realistic opportunities to develop viable livelihoods.

The initiation of IGA will significantly contribute to improving beneficiaries' overall welfare. WFP and partners will consult on the dev't of the actual content of IGA. Training will be offered in life skills and business management, and will be the first step to ensuring that beneficiaries are able to realize sustainable IGA. With PEPFAR support, the needed training materials will be produced and distributed to beneficiaries, who will develop their IGA proposal during training when it will be assessed for economic viability. Once an IGA is approved by WFP and implementing partners, seed money will be provided to beneficiaries.

This activity will support 7,000 PLWHA of which 70% will be female and assist an additional 110,000 beneficiaries, including OVC and household members of PLWHA.

The plus up is a stop gap measure to address Title II shortages, and will enable reg'l/local purchase of small amounts of food, in addition to admin support for food transportation, distribution, capacity building and other program activities. This will enable the program to continue through Dec 2007. Approx $5.5 million is needed to cover the food shortfalls for the remainder of this year. ($2.6M is transportation/handling costs.) This funding would offset this amount, maximizing the amount of food contributed through FFP, and would benefit 111,000 people for a six month period.

Funding for Care: Orphans and Vulnerable Children (HKID): $3,000,000

This activity that combines Title II and PEPFAR Ethiopia resources for nutritional support of OVC. Funding has been increased based on the following items: PEPFAR Ethiopia needs to reach larger numbers of clinically malnourished and food insecure OVC graduating from the short term facility based food-by-prescription program with community-based food and nutrition and livelihood support. Projected Food For Peace commodity levels into WFP remain uncertain. The food and related operational costs will be contributed by non-PEPFAR Ethiopia sources. During FY07 WFP will scale up food and nutrition support for PLWHA/OVC in 14 urban areas including Dire Dawa; Adama, Shashemene, Mojo and Debre Zeit in Oromiya; Debre Birhan, Bahir Dar, Gondar and Dessie in Amhara; Awassa, Dilla and Soddo in SNNPR; and Mekele in Tigray. These are some of the most populous towns in Ethiopia with high rates of HIV/AIDS infection and urban poverty. The beneficiaries of the project are PLWHA/OVC on HIV care and treatment with clinical signs of severe malnutrition, and HIV+ women and their infants in PMTCT programs. The project also provides nutritional support to OVC.

According to the findings of two surveys conducted at the end of 2004 and 2005, WFP nutrition support for PLWHA/OVC has resulted in significant improvements in the nutritional status and quality of life of its beneficiaries. This activity will be implemented through the government and NGO partners in the implementation areas. Each town has a Coordination Committee composed of representatives of the town, HAPCO, health bureau, health service providers, NGO partners and PLWHA associations. Nutritional support is designed to build upon and complement existing care, support and treatment activities including home based care, ART, PMTCT and educational support for orphans.

This activity will be aligned with national OVC programming and linked to health services, including ART at hospitals and health centers in 14 major urban areas. Furthermore, WFP will collaborate with implementing partners to integrate nutrition assessment of OVC in case detection of children pre-ART, ART, PMTCT and postnatal care services.