Subject: ORSZCA UPDATE: Global Fund to support improved ORS/Zinc access
Subheading: Global Fund gets more holistic

Welcome to the ORSZCA UPDATE for Dec 2022

GLOBAL ORS/ZINC STATUS

We continue to update and share our resource on the ORS and Zinc status around the world – orszco-pack.org/orsz-status. You can help by adding to the resource either by commenting on the ORSZCA website or by completing a questionnaire in English or French.

THE GLOBAL FUND WILL FINANCE ORS AND ZINC IN THE NEXT FUNDING ROUND

ORSZCA welcomes a major new policy shift by The Global Fund, to provide co-financing to eligible countries for the provision of ORS and Zinc to children under five years, as part of their support for Integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) programmes. 

A highly informative webinar, run by the Child Health Task Force on 7-Dec-22 can be reviewed here: THE GLOBAL FUND WILL FINANCE ORSZ FOR UNDER-5 DIARRHOEA IN ELIGIBLE ICCM PROGRAMMES (English only). This is an excellent document with detailed advice and methods on how one might make the case for diarrhoea treatment with ORS and Zinc. It also contains background for those new to The Global Fund and links to the key materials.

If you’d like to listen to the webinar again the recording is here: https://www.childhealthtaskforce.org/events/2022/12/information-session-new-opportunities-improving-funding-iccm-through-global-fund

The recording includes interpretations in different languages.

So, what are the key messages and next steps for those advocating for improved access to co-packaged ORS and Zinc?

• Until now, The Global Fund has focussed on HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB. As the Fund expands to support Community Health Worker (CHW) distribution of a wider range of essential medicines for children, we need a proactive effort to make sure ORS and Zinc are included in bids, and specifically in co-pack form. This will require the active engagement of new advocates in LMIC, outside the specialisations of HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB, who may not have previous experience of The Global Fund.
• You are encouraged to contact the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) in your country to see how to engage and participate. You would do this through the CCM administrative contact. As well as an administrative contact, there is normally a CCM Chair and Vice Chair. The full CCM details for all countries can be found here: https://data-service.theglobalfund.org/viewer/cm_contacts
  As a quick reference, the current CCM Administrators for the Anglophone countries in the  top 10 high burden childhood diarrhoea countries are

ETHIOPIA
Mr. Abayneh  ADMAS
abayneha74@gmail.com
Mr Dagim  MENGISTU
martadagim@gmail.com 

INDIA
Ms Gitanjali  MOHANTY
India CCM Coordinator
iccmsect-mohfw@gov.in
Ms Sandhya  GUPTA
India CCM Coordinator
dr.sandhyagupta@live.com
Dr Shobini  RAJAN
shobini@naco.gov.in

NIGERIA
Mrs Ishioma  JOHN
Finance and Admin. Officer
isiskie@gmail.com

PAKISTAN
Mr Hafiz Hammad  MURTAZA
CCM Coordinator
hamad@ccmpakistan.org.pk 

SOMALIA
Mr Ahmed  HASSAN
Secretariat Coordinator
assistant@gfscs.org

Some of the key features of the 2023-2025 Global Fund Strategy are:

• The Global Fund Strategy has CHWs and iCCM at its heart. It will support the provision of ORS and Zinc at the community level. It will NOT support the management of diarrhoea cases in health facilities.  For this reason, co-packaging has huge potential to improve the likelihood that children receive both ORS and Zinc when treated in the home, helping to underpin  the ‘rational use’ requirements of successful bids. 
• The focus is on children under five years of age.
• Co-financing is needed.
• Funding is not just for provision of medicine: applicants will have to identify gaps in their CHW expansion plans, to include Human Resources for Health (HRH) planning and recruitment, training, remuneration etc. Note that HRH may sometimes be abbreviated as HHR (Health Human Resources).
• Financing is part of The Global Fund’s Resilient and Sustainable Systems for Health (RSSH) grants: successful applications will need strong Health Management Information Systems (HMIS), access to data and alignment with national health strategies.

Key resources:

• The recording of the Child Health Task Force Webinar.
• The documentation (slidedeck and links to key tools) arising from the above webinar (English only).
• The details of the members of the Global Fund Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) in your country (English only).
• The Global Fund’s own iLearn platform (English only).
• The Global Fund 2023-2028 Strategy (English) (French)

Please let us know about your experience engaging with this new opportunity, especially in areas where ORSZCA might be able to support.

Thank you.

Morseda and Samy
ORSZCA Co-chairs

Dr Morseda Chowdhury
Director of Health, Nutrition and Population Programme
BRAC, Bangladesh

Samy Ahmar
Head of Health
Save the Children, UK