Tsu Progress Report for Nacp
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
TSU PROGRESS REPORT Technical Support Unit (TSU) in NACP III December 2011 Background The overall goal of the 3rd Phase of the NACP is to halt and reverse the epidemic in India by integrating programmes for prevention, care, support and treatment. To achieve this a four-pronged strategy was adopted: 1. Prevention of infections in high risk groups and general population through: a. Saturation of coverage of high risk groups with targeted interventions (TIs). b. Scaled up interventions in the general population. 2. Providing greater care, support and treatment to larger number of PLHA. 3. Strengthening the infrastructure, systems and human resources in prevention, care, support and treatment programmes at the district, state and national level. 4. Strengthening the nationwide Strategic Information Management System. To achieve a high level of coverage and maintain quality of programme implementation, NACO felt the need to identify consultants having strong management and human resource capabilities to set up “Technical Support Units” (TSUs) to support the development and implementation of HIV/AIDS strategies, especially support to the TIs and care and support linkages in the state and provide technical support as and when required by SACS. Current setup As of December 2011, TSUs have been setup in 15 states as shown below S.No State (SACS/DACS) TSU Implementing Agency TSU Funded By 1 Mumbai AVERT Society USAID Maharashtra 2 Goa AVERT Society USAID Tamil Nadu 3 APAC USAID Pondicherry 4 Kerala APAC USAID 5 Uttar Pradesh Futures USAID 6 Uttarakhand Futures USAID 7 Karnataka IHAT BMGF 8 Andhra Pradesh HLFPPT BMGF 9 Madhya Pradesh HLFPPT UNICEF 10 Chhattisgarh HLFPPT UNICEF 1 TSU PROGRESS REPORT S.No State (SACS/DACS) TSU Implementing Agency TSU Funded By 11 Jharkhand CARE UNICEF 12 West Bengal CARE Pool Fund 13 Orissa CARE Pool Fund 14 Delhi Raman Dev Con Pool Fund 15 Punjab SPYM Pool Fund Typical TSU structure NACO’s Technical Support Unit (NTSU) Concept NACP III set ambitious targets for scaling up operations in all of its key implementation areas. In light of was institutionalized through the creation of a Technical Support Unit for NACO. these ambitious targets, NACO identified key areas where external support was required. This support The guiding principle of the NTSU was to build in-house NACO capacity to deliver the functions required to scale up NACP III. It was envisaged that the NTSU would provide management and program management. Further, NTSU would be convened and led by NACO, with individual consultant technical expertise to ensure quick roll out of NACP III with an emphasis on quality assurance and and expert support through development partners/agencies. 2 TSU PROGRESS REPORT NTSU was asked to focus on following key areas Providing support to state TSUs in implementing Operational Guidelines for Targeted Interventions. Building capacity of TSU POs and Team Leaders to implement high quality TIs. through on-site mentoring, training and supportive supervision. Co-ordination between SACS/TSU and different stake holders including TSG Condom, TSG Truckers and STRC to enable smooth functioning of TIs. Understanding the drivers of the epidemic and addressing program gaps at the state/field level to Structureincrease program efficiency in different settings. The NTSU consists of Technical Experts sourced from various development partners and led by a Team leader identified by NACO. The structure is indicative of current personnel Key activities - Program Strengthening Institutions areDuring provided field visits, to strengthen NTSU conducts the supply meetings chain with systems PD SACS in theand state apprise for them STI drug of program kits, condoms functioning and Needles/Syringes.on the field. Feedback on strengthening quality of implementation is also provided. Specific input Advocacy meetings are also conducted with Health Secretary, Commissioner Health, MD NRHM During visit to districts, meetings are conducted with District Collector/Deputy Commissioner, etc for support to NACP program in state and explore integration. Civil Surgeon, CMO etc for program integration and support. Wherever DAPCUs are present, NTSU includes them in the visits to the health facilities and establish rapport for program support with functionaries 3 TSU PROGRESS REPORT TSU - Human resources The NTSU team engages with the TSUs and other agencies to ensure All TSU personnel are on board (early recruitment). This is crucial for the supportive supervision provided to the TIs (includes additional recruitment of POs based on increase in number of TIs). The team follows up with 15 TSU agencies, NERO for North East, SACS in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and UNFPA in Rajasthan for the recruitment of 155 POs, Team Leaders and other TSU personnel. All POs are placed in regions and are managing TIs so that POs can provide quality support to the TIs. The team follows up with TSUs and other agencies seeking information on the regional distribution of POs and pr ovides feedback as required. All POs are spending optimal time strengthening the quality of TI implementation. The team seeks information from the TSUs on number of TIs visited and type of visits (intensive/quick) by each PO and analyses the same to give feedback to the agencies. Capacity Building As the NTSU monitors the status of TSU personnel on board, it is aware of the new recruitments and their requirement for training. NTSU periodically conducts training on supportive supervision for all newly recruited personnel and also invites SACS and STRC to participate in the trainings. Details of trainings on supportive supervision conducted so far by the NTSU Training Month Venue Participants POs TL TI SACS STRC Round 1 August 2009 Bengaluru & Lucknow 34 8 9 5 Round 2 September 2009 Mumbai & Kolkatta 38 5 5 3 Round 3 December 2009 Guwahati 19 4 14 2 Round 4 March 2010 Ahmedabad 37 3 2 Round 5 April 2011 Delhi 60 5 1 Capacity building work includes planning, seeking approvals, designing course content, identifying resource persons, co-ordinating with NACO/SACS/TSUs for participation, facilitation of key training sessions, co-ordination for logistics and documentation of training quality and impact. Continuing mentoring and support Apart from the structured training described above, NTSU also facilitates on-site training of POs. This is done through accompanied visits with NTSU team members or by facilitating joint visits of newly recruited POs with POs of other states (e.g Goa PO STI sent to Karnataka). 4 TSU PROGRESS REPORT Table showing number of facilities visited during the period june 2010 to june 2011 Type of Facility No. Visited Targeted Interventions (TIs) 328* DSRC (STI Clinics) 128 TI STI Clinics 300 ICTCs 328** *These are unique TIs (TIs have been counted only once in spite of multiple visits) **Visited at least one ICTC linked to each TI visited NTSU provides continuous mentoring support Online mentoring - Sending case studies to POs to adapt best practices and for data analysis. Online program review – Using skype to follow up on action taken by TSUs/SACS on program recommendations. in Delhi in April 2011). NTSU also co-ordinates exposure visits/cross learning for TSUs. (e.g AP TSU POs visited IDU TIs Supportive supervision Building capacities of TSUs to provide support to POs on the ground NTSU developed a framework to provide feedback to PO visit reports. This framework helped the TL process, NTSU analysed and gave feedback to PO reports of Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa, Kerala, Orissa, Punjab,TIs in the Tamil TSU toNadu provide and Uttarakahand.periodic feedback This to improved POs based the on quality their field of supportivevisit reports. supervision To jump start as POs the were told to send a copy of the feedback reports prepared by them to NTSU. modified their focus of visits based on feedback. As a step to institutionalise this system, TSUs (TL TI) Institutionalising Review of TI program in state NTSU facilitated the state wise periodic reviews of POs (TSU/SACS). The performance of TIs managed by respective POs gets reviewed by SACS and TSU jointly under the leadership of the PD SACS. The review focuses on TI performance based on core indicators – HRG Registration, Clinic access, HIV testing, Syphilis screening, ART linkage, Condom distribution, NSEP etc. Clear TI wise action plans are drawn up during the review and followed up on subsequent review. SACS has now started conducting monthly reviews, which helps them have a better understanding of TI program and address implementation hurdles early. 5 TSU PROGRESS REPORT Details of the recent TI review/PO review facilitated by NTSU is as follows State Review conducted in State Review conducted in November 2010 November 2010 Andhra Pradesh March 2011 Orissa and January 2011 November 2011 April 2011 Delhi Punjab April 2011 July 2011 October 2010 and Jharkhand June 2011 Tamil Nadu January 2011 October 2010 and Kerala April 2011 Uttar Pradesh March 2011 February 2011 Karnataka Uttarakhand March 2011 and April 2011 February 2011 June 2011 and Madhya Pradesh West Bengal March 2011 July 2011 Maharashtra Nagaland November 2011 Gujarat NERO November 2010 Grading of TIs (Balance Scorecard) initiated for the quarter of October to December 2009 and since then 8 rounds of assessment have NTSU team designed the tool for quarterly assessment of the TIs by POs. The first assessment was inform supervisory structures. been conducted. The plan to expand to TI level by building capacities of TI to do the assessment and This includes Co-ordination with 26 states - 15 TSU states, NERO for 8 North Eastern states, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh for conducting TI assessments. Preparing state summary of PO assessments categorizing TIs in good, average and poor grades. Reviewing assessments done by POs for accuracy and efficiency. Providing feedback to TSUs/SACS on PO assessments during visits to states (especially during PO reviews). Strengthening supply chain of essential commodities at TI - NTSU was directed to monitor the availability of condoms and STI drug kits at TIs in states where POs are available.