Resource Type: Synthesis Report
Authors: Health Finance and Governance Project
Published: June 2017

Resource Description: The findings of this study demonstrate that overall the PFs/PFIPs did indeed advance partnership dialogue and partnerships between PEPFAR and governments. The process of development epitomized the spirit of country ownership with the active engagement of a wide array of partners and stakeholders. In addition, the PFs/PFIPs engendered greater alignment between United States Government (USG) mandates and national priorities. The agreements positively impacted on the sustained scale-up of high impact HIV interventions, notably expansion and scale up of ART, and the rollout of Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) and Voluntary Male Medical Circumcision (VMMC). The process also helped identify a focus on critical systems issues impacting on HIV care and treatment—notably related to supply chain, domestic financing, and human resources for health. Even with these successes, the PFs/PFIPs had shortcomings. The implementation of PFIPs failed to sustain continued high level oversight and did not provide a way of holding stakeholders accountable through the implementation process. Most lacked standard indicators and/or had monitoring and evaluation plans that were not fully implemented. Lastly, they were not treated as living documents—as economies grew or shrank, epidemics evolved, and new research and policies became available, there was no systematic process to re-evaluate or revise the documents. As a result, the commitments in the agreements were no longer as relevant.