Challenge TB - Namibia Year 2 Quarterly Monitoring Report January-March 2016

The program's work plan timeframe was October 2015 to September 2016, with the reporting period being January-March 2016. Pre-approved activities for December 2015 to March 2016 included the recruitment of key personnel, visit for management backstopping, procurement of vehicles and computers, and support to the continuation of the multi-sectoral National TB & Leprosy Steering Committee meeting. One of the most significant achievements was the participation of CTB staff in the annual World TB Day commemoration in Omusati region, which boosted national level support to the host region and provided an opportunity for CTB staff to meet and interact with senior management from the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS), World Health Organization (WHO), and other Civil Society Organizations. CTB also supported the ministry in conducting a stakeholder consultative meeting and short-term technical assistance (STTA) for protocol development for the TB Disease Prevalence Survey (DPS). The program achieved ART coverage of 97% among TB/HIV patients in three out of four districts in Namibia, up from 88% in 2013/14, due to strong TB/HIV collaborative activities resulting from the introduction of District TB/HIV Coordinators. CTB also supported the MOHSS in training 89 health care workers on the use of electronic recording and reporting tools in February 2016. Improved use of electronic recording and reporting systems by regional and district-based TB coordinators has led to the National TB Program (NTLP) resorting to using ERR for compiling annual reports and WHO reports from 2016 onwards. Despite challenges in recruiting an M&E advisor, the country team successfully negotiated for salary adjustments to attract the appropriate person for the job. The program also faced challenges in recruiting District/Regional TB/HIV coordinators, but advertisement and recruitment are planned for the third quarter. The program has made significant progress in implementing its activities, with 36.2% of milestones met, 44.7% partially met, and 19.1% not met as of March 2016. The program's activity progress is as follows: recruitment of key personnel is partially met, with key positions of Deputy Director operations and TB/HIV technical officers filled, but other positions still to be recruited; visit for management backstopping was met; procurement of vehicles is partially met, with quotations obtained for the 4X4 vehicle; procurement of computers and laptops for new staff was met; and quarterly zonal meetings were met. The program has also made progress in recruiting CHWs, with contracts for all three sub-awardees signed and implementation started in March.