The Global Fund’s support to the national response
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck Myanmar in March 2020, The Global Fund, through its Principal Recipient Programme of the Asia Regional Health Cluster (ARHC)-UNOPS, immediately responded to the Ministry of Health and Sports’ request under its grant flexibility to approve US$7.1 million as its initial investment to the emergency procurement response. The Global Fund acknowledged the direct threat of the COVID-19 pandemic on people affected or living with HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria.
In early June, The Global Fund then announced a new funding mechanism ‘COVID-19 Response Mechanism (C19 RM) to support countries respond adequately to the COVID-19 with additional funds while mitigating the impact on HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria programmes.
An initial US$10.5m was provided to invest in the procurement of additional PPEs, diagnostic equipment and supplies in June. A further US$7.5m was made available to the MOHS in August to mitigate COVID-19 impacts, continue to reinforce the national response efforts and carry out urgent improvements in health and community systems. In December, additional funding of US$9.1 million was approved to scale-up MoHS testing capacity as it expands diagnostic testing with antigen-based rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), other existing platforms (GeneXpert) and personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline health workers.
The additional funding brought the total C19RM award to US$27.2 million. The total funding that The Global Fund has provided through PR-UNOPS becomes US$34.3 million.
Emergency procurement of medical supplies and equipment
As of today, UNOPS as a PR of the Global Fund successfully procured and delivered US$ 9.63 million worth of medical supplies and equipment to MOHS and implementing partners. The procurement support covers PPEs, diagnostic equipment and supplies. Equipment for laboratory operations and expanding testing capacity has also been procured as part of the emergency procurement support.
The list of procurement items delivered to date can be found here.
Continuity of essential services
While helping to tackle the pandemic, PR-UNOPS is working to make sure that the control efforts for HIV, TB and malaria are not neglected and the provision of lifesaving services for these diseases is uninterrupted. Working closely with its Sub-Recipients, PR-UNOPS remains committed to ensuring continuity of services without compromising the safety of healthcare workers. SRs are providing HIV, TB and malaria services while practicing infection control measures and equipping the staff with protective gear. COVID-19 health messages are provided to the beneficiaries through community engagement and communications products.
