Harmonization Working Group (HWG)
- Co-Chairs:
- Suprotik Basu (Office of the Secretary General's Special Envoy for Malaria)
Peter Olumese (WHO/GMP) - RBM Secretariat Focal point:
- Richard Carr
Tel.: +41 22 791 3518 - Next meeting:
- 10-11 May 2010, Geneva, Switzerland
Description of group:
The Harmonization Working Group (HWG) facilitates and harmonizes partners' support in response to countries identified needs and supports the establishment of the 'three ones' principles for malaria (one coordinating mechanism; one plan and one monitoring and evaluation system) at country level.
Overview:
HWG’s main focus is to co-ordinate a process to support the development of the three ones concept at the country level. This builds on the ongoing country level development of plans to tackle malaria. The second aim is to help countries identify needs for scaling up treatments and preventions and help develop a rapid response mechanism to overcome bottlenecks. This helps ensure a high level success rates of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) and other major funding initiatives. To achieve these objectives, HWG’s activities extend to emergency support to countries in need of assistance, resource gaps assessment and mobilization, implementation support and information collection and dissemination.
For further information, please refer to the HWG Terms of Reference PDF [180K].
HWG Organization:
The Harmonization Working Group is organized by "Workstreams", each of which is a priority area of support, and is chaired or co-chaired by a HWG Member. Workstreams are opened and closed as required, and agreed during semi-annual HWG meetings. As of July 2009, the following are the HWG's seven active workstreams.
- Global Fund Round 9 and National Strategy Application Support: UNICEF and Office of the Secretary General's Special Envoy for Malaria
- Global Fund Round 8 signature acceleration support: UNICEF
- LLIN scale-up: Alliance for Malaria Prevention
- Nigeria and DR Congo: World Bank
- Bottleneck Identification/Response/Progress Tracking: RBM Subregional Network Chairs
- Affordable Medicines Facility – malaria (AMFm): Clinton Foundation and WHO
- Alliance for Malaria Prevention: AMP - Chair: Jason Peat (IFRC)
Aims for 2009-10:
- At the request of the Special Ministerial Session of the RBM Board in May 2009, malaria endemic countries in Africa agreed to develop monthly roadmaps to outline clearly the path to the 2010 Universal Coverage Targets The meaning of universal coverage:
Prevention
100% of the population at risk is provided with locally appropriate preventive interventions. Coverage is defined as follows:
• LLINs: one long lasting insecticidal net for every two people.
• IRS: a household is routinely sprayed with indoor residual spraying.
• IPTp: every pregnant woman living in a high transmission setting receives at least 2 doses of an appropriate antimalarial drug during her pregnancy.
Case management
100% of patients receive locally appropriate case management interventions. Coverage is defined as follows:
• Diagnosis: prompt parasitological diagnosis by microscopy or rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs).
• Treatment: treatment with effective drugs within 24 hours after the first symptoms appear.
Click for source, including gaps and bottlenecks. From June 2009 – August 2009, the RBM Sub-Regional Networks and Harmonization Working Group collaborated closely to support countries to develop the Roadmaps, which were the focus of 4 joint SRN-WHO Annual Review meetings. As of mid-September, 30 Roadmaps have been received, with the remainder expected by 15 October 2009.
The RBM response to these Roadmaps in terms of technical and implementation support will be a key deliverable at the 7th meeting of the HWG, to be held on 29-30 October 2009, in Nairobi, Kenya. - In collaboration with Partners and other working groups strongly encourage development and adoption of international regulatory recommendations in Scale-up for impact (SUFI) countries and in sustained control countries;
- Support strengthening of countries’ malaria control planning through needs assessments and business plan tools;
- Support negotiations with major donors (e.g. Global Fund), the translation of country business plans into proposals and continue supporting funding disbursements.
Nairobi, Kenya, 29-30 October 2009: RBM partners gathered in Nairoby for the semi-annual meeting of the RBM's Harmonisation Working Group (HWG). The meeting improved coordination across the HWG and enabled effective information-sharing on country progress towards the 2010 target of universal coverage.
| Date | Meeting outputs |
|---|---|
| 29-30.11.2009 |
|
Geneva, 11-12 May 2009: More than 50 participants, representing different constituencies of the RBM Partnership gathered in Geneva for the semi-annual meeting of the RBM's Harmonisation Working Group (HWG). The meeting provided a forum for coordination across the HWG and for information-sharing on country progress towards the 2010 target of universal coverage.
Geneva, 28-29 October 2008: The RBM Harmonisation Working Group gathered in Geneva for its bi-annual meeting to agree on priority activities and outputs for 2009 and share information on key developments and next steps.
Geneva, 18-19 February 2008: Over 30 representatives of different constituencies of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM) convened for the 4th meeting of the RBM Harmonization Working Group (HWG). The participants reviewed the progress made in 2007 and highlighted the key areas in which malaria-endemic countries would receive assistance in 2008.
The Harmonization Working Group met to develop a methodology to evaluate the support they provide to countries for their Global Fund round 7 proposals; to consolidate inputs for the overall RBM 2007-2008 workplan; to agree on an operating framework for the RBM HWG Early Warning System and the Malaria Implementation Support Team; and to define its role in the ACT subsidy roll out.