Addressing the Need for Operational Planning
Over the past decade, strategic planning to develop national responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic has been emphasized. These national plans deal with prevention, impact mitigation, care and support, surveillance monitoring and blood safety, and, increasingly, capacity-building and institutional strengthening. Well thought-out strategic plans are serving to focus activity, mobilize resources, and coordinate the contributions of many donors in order to scale up national responses rapidly. Whereas scaled-up national programs were once long-term goals similar to "health for all," the new financial environment for AIDS will allow scaling up within a 5- to 10- year horizon in some countries. Now countries urgently need operational planning for the medium term, which is the focus of this manual.
What is in the manual?
The manual includes methods for:
- identifying aspects of the national response suitable for scaling up;
- creating frameworks for comprehensive, coordinated multi-sectoral action;
- producing detailed plans and budgets for systematic, accelerated program implementation;
- creating a human capacity development strategy
This manual is unique because it provides a detailed process for operational planning, including budgeting, that can be used to prepare a proposal and implementation plan. This process brings together the participants from multiple sectors that will be required to realize the plan.
This approach can be used to address any combination of HIV/AIDS services with other services (AIDS and reproductive health, AIDS and child survival, AIDS and TB, AIDS and STIs, AIDS medicines and other medicines, etc.). It can also be used to design programs that have no health component, such as impact mitigation programs or school-based programs. The multi-sectoral planning process can also be used for TB and malaria programs.
Who should use the manual?
The manual is intended for anyone involved in planning to scale up national HIV/AIDS programs. This could include staff of ministries of health, consulting groups, or international agencies. The manual provides a step-by-step planning process, from the decision about whether to undertake a multi-sectoral plan to the practical outputs: a detailed multi-sectoral implementation plan (or proposal) and budget. It includes tips for facilitators of the national planning process and can be used at the regional as well as the national level.
