Project Information

HIV prevalence is low in the Philippines, with a national average of under 0.1%, but is rapidly expanding among key populations - males who have sex with males (MSM) at 4% prevalence in the 2009 IHBSS, and people who inject drugs (PWID) at 52% in the 2010 Respondent Driven Sampling in Cebu City. The number of cases reported in the AIDS Registry has been gradually increasing and has shown a steep increase in the last 4 years - from an average of less than 1 case a day in 2006 to 5 cases a day in 2010. At the beginning of 2011, the Philippines HIV and AIDS epidemic has further accelerated to an average of six cases a day.

The country has had modest success in receiving grants from the GFATM for AIDS. Out of the 10 Rounds to date, the Philippines submitted seven proposals, of which three were approved: Round 3 (2004-2008) for USD 5,274,139, Round 5 (2006-2010) for USD 6,474,660 and Round 6 (2007-2012) for USD 12,510,870. Despite this, 64% of total AIDS spending in the country came from the GFATM. (Philippine UNGASS Country Report 2010).

Of the three approved grants, only Round 6 is ongoing until November 2012. With no sustainability plans and mechanisms in place, the lack of continued funding to sustain and scale up prevention, treatment, care and support interventions in the context of the increasing number of new HIV infections is cause for considerable alarm.

In order to increase the rate of success of the country in securing new and much-needed resources from the GFATM, the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC) has decided to start soon with the development of a country proposal in anticipation of the GFATMs call for Round 11 proposals in August 2011. The Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM), in its meeting last 24 March in Cebu City, also resolved to make the Round 11 proposal development a matter of priority for the HIV Technical Working Group (HIV TWG). It is opportune that the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Regional Office in Bangkok has identified the Philippines as one of its priority countries to be provided with technical and financial resources to support this process.

Developed a Country Proposal for the Global Fund Round 11.

• Coordinated with the Proposal Development Team (PDT) in the course of proposal development
• As secretariat to the PDT, organized and facilitated PDT meetings in consultation with the Convener, document meetings, and provided other administrative support as needed.
• On behalf of the PNAC and endorsed by the PDT, hired a technical team that was tasked to write the Round 11 proposal. The Team was composed of: a) a Team leader expert, in charge of the GF proposal making who served as the lead writer; b) programme experts in HIV prevention and AIDS treatment, care and support; c) M&E expert; and d) financial/costing expert.
• Developed a work plan and schedule for the proposal development for approval of the PDT.
• Provided administrative and logistics support to the Technical Team in the conduct of activities, e.g., consultation workshops, desk reviews, meetings, etc.
• Closely monitored the progress of the proposal development based on the agreed work plan and ensured quality outputs are produced in a timely manner
• Conducted a series of consultation among various affected groups and stakeholders
• Managed a 3-day consultation workshop among stakeholders (MSMs, positive groups, drug users group, health facilities associations).