Global Fund financing will support a national HIV/AIDS survey in Rwanda

{Global Fund financing will support a national HIV/AIDS survey in Rwanda to provide estimates on HIV incidence and guide interventions to reduce the risk of transmission, Aidspan learned from senior Rwandan health officials.}

In an emailed statement, Dr Sabin Nsazimana, of the Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC), a department of the Ministry of Health, told Aidspan that 99% of the funding for the survey, RAIHIS, was coming from the Global Fund.

“The survey was planned in [an HIV] application to the Global Fund supporting the HIV national strategic plan for Rwanda,” Dr Nsazimana said. “The funds have been allocated to RBC/HIV Division in its capacity as a sub-recipient (SR).”

Coordination of the implementation of the survey will be led by the RBC. In addition to providing estimates of incidence, the survey launched in July is expected to help the government monitor the disease and identify strategic goals and targets for prevention, mitigation and treatment.

Activities funded by the Global Fund for the survey include salaries for 140 staff implementing the survey tool and conducting result analysis, logistics, and laboratory commodities, according to Dr Nsazimana, who heads the HIV, STI and Other Blood Borne Infections division at the RBC. It is expected that data collection will continue until the end of 2014, with results expected in May 2015.

“The data that will be collected from the survey will be used to undertake a mid-term review of the current HIV National Strategic Plan (2013-2017),” Dr Nsazimana said.

Partners assisting Rwanda with the survey include the national Centers for Disease Control, the University of Rwanda School of Public Health, UNICEF, UNAIDS and the National Institute of Statistics.

The study’s launch was timed to coincide with the implementation of a new strategic plan and provide baseline data for the country, Dr Nsazimana explained. “The data that will be collected from the survey will be used to undertake a mid-term review of the current [plan],” and used again at the end of 2017 to measure the impact of interventions, he added.

The Global Fund has signed grants worth $908.8 million with Rwanda since 2012, of which $789.8 million has been disbursed. HIV/AIDS grants total $587.5 million, of which $494.2 million has been disbursed.

MoH