ABOUT AFRICAN CONSTITUENCY BUREAU FOR THE GLOBAL FUND (ACB)
The Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) has two constituencies representing Africa namely the Eastern and Southern African (ESA) and West and Central Africa (WCA) constituencies. The two constituencies took a joined-up approach in 2012 with a twofold intent: to ensure that constituency priorities are reflected in Global Fund strategy and operational plans; and to strengthen the presence, voice and contributions of the constituencies, through their delegations, in all Global Fund governance deliberations and processes. The constituencies adopted a new governance framework that amongst other things, established a joint ESA and WCA Bureau – the African Constituencies Bureau, ACB – a policy think tank that support ESA and WCA Global Fund board members, committee members and delegations. Its primary functions include ensuring effective engagement, representation and participation of African constituencies in Global Fund processes. It also seeks to enhance the capacity of the African constituencies to shape Global Fund policies and processes. The constituencies comprise a total of 47 countries.
The ACB, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, ensures effective engagement, representation and participation of African Constituencies, ESA and WCA, in Global Fund Board processes.
background to this Opportunity
The Global Fund, the biggest multi-lateral mechanism, is at the centre of the global community’s efforts to end AIDS, TB and malaria by 2030. The fund is in the process of developing its post-2022 strategic plan. There is so much at stake for this plan given it will be the last before the 2030 goal of ending the three epidemics. It cannot be business as usual and the margin for error is therefore extremely limited.
Africa bears the biggest share of the global burden of malaria and HIV and a considerable burden of TB. As the epicenter of the epidemics, it is critical that the continent is at the forefront of developing evidence-based interventions that will turn the tide of these epidemics and engage in discussions on the Global Fund’s next strategy. This will be a huge demonstration of the continent’s ownership of global strategies towards ending the three epidemics in 2030.
In 2018, there were 10 million new cases of TB globally and WHO African region accounted for 24% of the estimated number of TB incident cases with Nigeria and South Africa contributing 4% and 3%, respectively, to the global incidence. The incidence of TB on the global scale is declining at the rate of about 2% per year compared to the 4% - 5% needed per annum to arrive at achieving the 2020 target of the end TB strategy. With respect to mortality, there were nearly 1.5 million deaths globally from TB of which Africa contributed 40%.
Incidence and deaths are also falling relatively fast in the African Region (4.1% and 5.6%, respectively, per year), with cumulative reductions of 12% for incidence and 16% for deaths between 2015 and 2018. Seven high TB burden countries are on track to achieve the 2020 milestones: Kenya, Lesotho, Myanmar, the Russian Federation, South Africa, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
Most recently in 2018, the U.N. General Assembly held its first-ever High-Level Meeting on TB (UNHLM TB), where world leaders adopted a new Political Declaration that reaffirmed global TB commitments and included four (4) new global targets.
Despite increases in TB notifications, there is still a large gap between the number of new cases reported (7.0 million) and the estimated 10.0 million (range, 9.0– 11.1 million) incident cases in 2018 due to a combination of underreporting of detected cases, underdiagnosis, inadequate access to health services, gas and weaknesses in health systems and surveillance and inadequate linkages between the private and public sectors. Ten countries accounted for about 80% of the gap, with India (25%), Nigeria (12%), Indonesia (10%) and the Philippines (8%) accounting for more than half of the total. In these countries in particular, intensified efforts are required to improve reporting of detected TB cases and access to diagnosis and treatment. The WHO Africa region contributes about 43% of all missing cases. The effort to find missing TB cases remains a significant challenge for countries in Africa. Further investments and commitment will undoubtedly provide countries with an opportunity to build on the work that has been done and expand the reach of much-needed TB services and programs
The Global TB Plan 2016-2020 estimates that USD 21 billion will be needed to address the TB response. In the lead up to the UNHLM TB, it was estimated that that USD 30 billion per year would be needed to achieve the target of 40 million people with TB receiving the care they need by 2022. However, currently only about USD 5 billion per year (USD 6.8 billion in 2018) is available and there is a large gap. In 2019, 87% of TB funding was from domestic sources of which 53% was from BRICS countries. Thirty-eight (38) percent of funding in 25 high TB burden in low-and-middle-income countries outside BRICS and 49% in low-income-countries was from donor with USD 0.9 billion (against annual requirement of USD 2.7 billion) coming from international donors of which the Global Fund contributed 73%.
As can be seen from the foregoing, therefore, addressing the challenges of the TB epidemic in Africa, including tackling missing cases, is an important priority if the region is to end the TB epidemic by 2035. The ACB therefore seeks to hire a consultant that will support the organization to critically analyze the TB epidemic in Africa, with TB missing cases as a key priority, and provide evidence-informed guidance on how the Global Fund and the region can move forward to end TB in 2035.
scope of work
Below is the expected scope of work under this assignment:
Deliverables:
Terms of the appointment:
The successful consultant will be expected to complete this assignment within 30 days and should be willing and available to participate in a dissemination meeting with various stakeholders, including countries, technical partners and funders.
QUALIFICATIONS
EXPERIENCE