EpiC Quarterly Report (January–March 2020) - KPIF West Africa

The Mali, Togo, and Burkina Faso concept notes were approved in December 2019, and implementation began in Mali and Togo in January. Security and COVID-19 delayed start-up in Burkina Faso, but the program made significant progress in staffing, subagreement finalization, and integration into the existing HIV bilateral, Ending AIDS in West Africa (EAWA), with FHI 360 as prime. Senegal's work plan was approved January 31, and the acceleration consultant was selected and approved by both USAID and NeemaIntrahealth for a March 2 start date. Regional activities focused on strategic information, stigma index, and coordination. The Regional KPIF Work Plan was approved in February, and approximately 50% of the allocated funds were allocated to John Hopkins University (JHU) for strategic information support to USAID missions. JHU aims to build capacity in using key population data to inform the scale of HIV prevention and treatment responses for key populations in West Africa. JHU also provided technical assistance to the Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+) and UNAIDS in conducting stigma indexes in each of the six West Africa KPIF countries. In Burkina Faso, the work plan was approved in December 2019 to support full HIV cascade for female sex workers and men who have sex with men in Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso. Activities included support to two drop-in centers, going online activities, stigma and violence prevention and response, EPOA, and peer navigation activities to strengthen the HIV cascade for each key population group. However, project start-up was significantly delayed due to COVID-19 travel and social distancing restrictions. In Ghana, approval for the KPIF/Ghana work plan was received mid-February 2020. The final plan includes critical activities to support the national HIV response and USAID HIV programming in Ghana through pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and HIV self-testing (HIVST) rollout in Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions, and technical assistance to integrate undetectable = untransmittable (U=U) in national and project messaging and to support stigma and violence prevention. Travel and social distancing restrictions due to COVID-19 altered the planned start-up timeline. Implementation details for projects/programs included subgrants with local community-based organizations (CBOs) in Burkina Faso, recruitment of technical advisors and finance and grant officers, and remote orientations on strategic information and finance for partners. Priority activities in the next three months (April-June 2020) included continuing remote orientations, planning and starting small group trainings for key interventions, providing day-to-day remote technical assistance and coaching, starting stigma and violence prevention activities, and finalizing recruitment and onboarding of finance and grant officers. Geographic focus and context included West Africa, with specific country updates provided for Mali, Togo, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Liberia, and Senegal. Timeframes and recommendations were provided for the next three months (April-June 2020), with a focus on adapting to the current travel and social distancing restrictions due to COVID-19.