EASTERN REGION STAKEHOLDERS MEETINGS

The Monitoring and Evaluation Technical Support (METS) Program participated in the Eastern Region Stakeholders’ Meeting from 23-24 May 2017 in Teso Region. The event doubled as a project review and closure meeting in the Eastern region of the country as well a hand over ceremony by Baylor Uganda to The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) Uganda. The transition will continue to get funding from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through Centres for Disease Control (CDC)
Dr. Teri Wingate, the Deputy Director at CDC thanked the Implementing Partners (IPs) for their commitment in the region and emphasized the need for accountability from the district leadership to ensure smooth delivery from the IPs. “These poor or delayed accountabilities do not only affect the IP but push up to the funders and this is not reflective of the good work being done on ground,” she said.
Speakers from the Districts expressed gratitude for the support from METS which included development of five year strategic plans which will help in marketing and sourcing for more funding in selected and vital areas.
Support had also been provided in the Governance and Leadership training which was a major concern of the outgoing IP because without these skills, the implementation of programs becomes difficult and yet funding favors a result oriented movement.
Another area that was applauded was support towards compilation of District Bulletins which have allowed them to show their milestones achieved from support from Baylor Uganda and the HMIS tools which are used to collect data.
Participants applauded trainings and installation of the UgandaEMR system which had simplified their operations in the different Health facilities and vital in data collection and patient tracking.

Ms. Evelyn Akello, the Program Manager METS noted that as an above site mechanism, METS was committed to working with the Implementing Partners. She applauded Baylor Uganda for a great job and reassured TASO of commitment towards the betterment of the Teso Region.
She noted that the Strategic Plans were ready for distribution and encouraged TASO to familiarize its self with these documents given the time and resources that the district leadership had invested in them. “The plans reflect what is a priority for the districts and are equipped with rich information that could be used as a reference for you in addition to the support from the outgoing partner” she said.
On the issue on HMIS Tools distribution, Ms. Akello encouraged the IPs to adopt the Electronic Medical Records System (UgandaEMR) to reduce the cases of limited HMIS tools at health facilities. This would imply the cost of printing HMIS tools would greatly reduce.
She commended the region leadership for their efforts of bringing down the prevalence rate in children under eMTCT from 7% to 4%; a commendable effort in the journey to 0%. She also applauded Kumi district on her progress on the 90-90-90 targets given their suppression rates.

The invited districts included Ngora, Bukedea, Soroti and Serere in one cluster and Amuria, Katakwi, Kaberamaido and Kumi Districts in the second cluster.