Implementation Monitoring Support Plan for the Executive Secretariat of the Council of Ministers of Health from Central America And the Dominican Republic (SE-COMISCA) for the Implementation of the COMISCA JOINT NEGOTIATION MECHANISM

The project's purpose is to support Central American countries in achieving a technically, politically, and financially sustainable stage to contain the HIV epidemic and meet the "95-95-95" goals established for the year 2030. The project's main objective is to support the Executive Secretariat of the Council of Ministers of Health from Central America and the Dominican Republic (SE-COMISCA) in the implementation of the COMISCA Joint Negotiation mechanism to improve access to medicines, reagents, and other supplies necessary for the response to HIV in the SICA member states. The project duration is 18 months, from March 2020 to August 2021, with the main counterparts being SE-COMISCA officials. A work plan was developed in support of the actions carried out by SE-COMISCA within the framework of the COMISCA Joint Negotiation for the process of improving access to medicines, reagents, and other supplies necessary for the response to HIV. The implementation of the support plan was set in motion in May 2020, and its completion date is July 2021, coinciding with the start of the quarantine measures derived from the COVID-19 pandemic. The project's methodology includes a virtual meeting with a duration of 90 minutes, divided into three stages. The first stage involves the contextualization of the support provided to SE-COMISCA in the implementation of the COMISCA Joint Negotiation mechanism. The second stage includes the evaluation of results of the implementation of the work plan, presenting the achieved results in the planning framework in support of SE-COMISCA to improve the positioning of the COMISCA Joint Negotiation and the adaptations made according to the regional context. The results of the implementation of the work plan include the development of the COMISCA Joint Negotiation Advocacy Plan, materials for the positioning of the COMISCA Joint Negotiation, a plan to attract regional and extra-regional manufacturers or distributors of medicines and medical supplies for HIV from the COMISCA Harmonized List, a regional virtual course on COMISCA Joint Negotiation, sensitization with officials of the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Health and Social Security Institutions in the region, support to the Ministry of Health of Guatemala to update the procurement manuals that include the centralized and decentralized procurement modalities utilizing the COMISCA Joint Negotiation, and the first monitoring of the implementation of the Support Plan for SE-COMISCA for the positioning of the COMISCA Joint Negotiation. The project's objectives include analyzing the progress in the implementation of the work plan for the period April 2020 - August 2021 to support SE-COMISCA in the implementation of the COMISCA Joint Negotiation mechanism and obtaining feedback from SE-COMISCA officials to improve the support provided by FANCAP in future cooperation projects.