With support from USAID, PEPFAR, and other partners, MSH has collaborated with the Angolan Ministry of Health to increase access to essential health commodities; establish a sustainable model for providing high-quality HIV and AIDS services; reach key populations with prevention, care, and treatment services; and improve the capacity of municipal and provincial governments to plan, fund, and supervise health programs.

Highlights:

• Developed a sustainable model of high quality, integrated care for people living with HIV, including HIV/TB co-infection and HIV/family planning integration, which tested 172,733 people for HIV and identified 13,408 new people living with HIV. In June 2019, more than 17,000 Angolans were receiving HIV medications across 7 MSH-supported health facilities, and 75% of tested patients had an undetectable viral load, making them much less likely to pass the virus to their sexual partners.

• Worked with 11 civil society organizations and 5 community groups to bring HIV prevention, testing, and care services to 59,528 individuals at community hotspots for key populations—female sex workers (FSW), men who have sex with men (MSM), and transgender people.

• Developed distinct, tailored interventions for each key population group to meet their needs and preferences. FSW peer educators were trained and equipped to provide HIV testing, counseling, and gender-based violence services; the enhanced peer outreach approach was used to reach MSM to persuade peers in their own social and sexual networks to be tested for HIV; and monthly support groups for trans women were held at a community center, where two nurses provided prevention and testing services.

• Prepared a costed investment case, using the UNICEF/MSH Community Health Planning and Costing Tool for broadening an existing community health program to cover malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia, and TB services to areas of greatest need. The results will be used to guide the development of a national plan for community health service expansion and mobilize funding.

• Supported Angola’s National Malaria Control Program in the development and distribution of pharmaceutical management tools to all facilities. By 2017, 672 of 778 facilities (86%) were using appropriate tools for malaria logistics data.

• Supported Angola’s transition to decentralized dispensing practices for antiretroviral therapy, enabling the dispensing of antiretrovirals at health facility pharmacies, which had previously been available only at hospitals.

• Strengthened the supply chain management system through capacity building of institutions and individuals across key health systems to improve availability and use of essential public health commodities. By the end of a five-year project, MSH helped Angola provide 4 million antimalarial treatments per year, and antiretroviral treatment for more than 80,000 patients living with HIV.

• Improved the leadership and management capacity of the Ministry of Health as a Global Fund Principal Recipient and provided performance-based grants and capacity building to local civil society organizations to deliver evidence- and community-based HIV prevention. As a result, 460 community health volunteers and traditional birth attendants were trained in HIV prevention interventions. These activities reached 40,384 people, including 1,131 people living with the virus, with prevention messages and provided HIV testing and counseling to 23,344 people.