THOUGHT LEADERSHIP ON COLLABORATION
The unprecedented scale-up of HIV/AIDS treatment throughout the world will require a heavy investment in health care infrastructure, including public health supply chains. No one organization or donor can solve the problem alone: success requires cooperation and collaboration on an unprecedented scale.
Coordinating efforts and sharing information ensures maximum reach and impact, avoids duplication (and gaps) in service and improves decision making. Greater collaboration within a country can lead to cost savings in procuring medicines and supplies, increased donor confidence and funding, greater flexibility in how countries spend funds and therefore rapid increases in the number of HIV/AIDS patients receiving treatment.
In Rwanda, to coordinate procurement among multiple donors who have differing rules and requirements, the government created a National Coordinated Procurement and Distribution System (CPDS) in 2005. Through the CPDS, donors—including among others Global Fund, PEPFAR, and the World Bank—purchase portions of Rwanda’s national ARV needs. Cost savings have played a part in the dramatic expansion of treatment. In a little more than two years, the number of people receiving antiretroviral therapy has nearly doubled: from 19,058 in December 2005 to 37,192 in March 2007.
Please share these resources related to successes and challenges in collaboration.
