ProSIFU Year 1 Quarterly Report: January–March 2013 (Quarter 2)

The project's goal is to reduce the risk of HIV transmission from mothers to their children (PMTCT) and ensure antiretroviral treatment (ART) to all eligible HIV-positive beneficiaries. ProSIFU's interventions are now largely framed around PMTCT and ensuring ART to all eligible HIV-positive beneficiaries, rather than providing treatment only in the context of PMTCT. Community mobilization and outreach will focus on behavior change communication activities and messages aimed at reducing high-risk sexual behaviors and addressing priority pivot themes, such as PMTCT, and targeting key populations such as truckers, miners, and commercial sex workers (CSWs), persons with disabilities, and women. The project has quickly responded to the strategic pivot by mobilizing its staff, leveraging the expertise and resources of another PATH-led project, Projet Integre de VIH/SIDA au Congo (ProVIC), and launching coordinated planning efforts with provincial and health zone authorities to assess additional potential PMTCT sites. ProSIFU is now working with an additional six PMTCT sites, for a new total of seven. Five of these sites will be integrated into ProSIFU as direct partners, and two will receive indirect support from ProSIFU through a "strategie avancee." To support these health facilities and ensure the extension of the continuum of care into the community, ProSIFU's local nongovernmental organization (NGO) partners, Bread and Knowledge Too-Congo (BAK-Congo), Lamuka, and Secours en Faveur Des Marginalises au Congo (SEFAM), will help launch four additional champion communities in Fungurume and Kasumbalesa, for a new total of five. Among these is a Champion Community specifically targeting CSWs in Kasumbalesa. ProSIFU activities will also build on ProVIC's existing three champion communities in this region. The project's early results are promising, reinforcing the case that there is strong community need for the key services that ProSIFU supports. For example, the project's approach to targeting HIV outreach, counseling, and testing within "hotspots" is proving an effective one, as early results show seropositivity rates in these areas that are higher than the national average. During the project's brief, post-pivot start-up period, more than 1,000 individuals have received HIV counseling and testing services through ProSIFU, and more than 550 women have been reached with PMTCT services. Two new champion communities have been launched in Fungurume, with support from local NGO partners BAK-Congo, SEFAM, and Lamuka, and both have completed baseline assessments, established steering committees, recruited community workers, and developed community action plans. The project's focus on mobilizing a rapid, coordinated response to the strategic pivot during the second quarter has set the stage for achieving considerable gains in progress against annual targets next quarter. Integrated health provider trainings in May will include the rollout of updated project monitoring and evaluation (M&E) datacards, and joint monthly data validation meetings will help address data quality challenges identified this period and strengthen the capacity of ProSIFU's local partners and health system to deliver quality, comprehensive services. ProSIFU has also revised its Year 1 work plan to reflect the new focus on PMTCT and ART, and has submitted the revised plan to USAID for approval. The project's revised results framework includes a new, PMTCT-focused sub-intermediate result (sub-IR 1.3), which will be implemented once the revised work plan is approved.