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Technical Support to the National HIV Response in Malawi

I-TECH seconded staff work in collaboration with government officers and program managers, and bring technical expertise to efforts to strengthen health systems.

These staff actively participate in the conduct of quarterly supportive supervisory visits to facilities, provide logistical and supply chain management support for HIV and related commodities, mentor health care workers, track in-service training data, support electronic data systems, contribute to the strengthening of health management information systems, conduct operations research, and provide M&E support. These USG-funded activities have continued to support the implementation and scale-up of important public health interventions, such as Option B+, integrated care (TB/HIV, PMTCT/HIV), more rigorous quality assurance of care and treatment through accurate data collection and site-level feedback.

The Malawi national HIV program, which now includes 735 antiretroviral therapy (ART) and 627 prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) static sites, has made commendable strides in collecting facility‐level data. However, strengthened surveillance capacities and systems are required to measure the population level impact of HIV interventions as the program strives to attain the UNAIDS 90‐90‐90 treatment targets by 2020.

I-TECH Malawi supported the Department of HIV/AIDS (DHA) to revise the 2016 HIV treatment guidelines, which will allow for a “blind and blanket” migration of most of the treatment cohort of WHO-recommended Tenofovir, Lamivudine, and Dolutegravir (TLD) by January 2019. The MoH senior management team approved the revised guidelines on 11 June 2018. I-TECH Malawi contributed a bulk of DHA staffing under Centers for Disease Control (CDC) funding for Human Resources for Health.