Republic of Moldova: Reassessment of the Implementation of the State Commitments to Ensure Sustainability of the HIV Response among Key Populations in the Context of Transition from Donor Support to Domestic Funding

The purpose of this study is to re-evaluate the state’s commitments to ensure a sustainable response to HIV among key affected populations (KAP) in the Republic of Moldova in the context of the transition from Global Fund support to national funding. The results of this assessment should contribute to raising the awareness of stakeholders, including representatives of NGOs, communities and international partners, about the transition process and contribute to further advocacy for the sustainability of national HIV response among KAPs.

This study was carried out in accordance with the methodological guide “Assessing Public Commitments to Ensure Sustainability of the HIV Response Among Key Populations in the Transition to National Funding” using the transition monitoring tool, which was developed by the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) and updated following the piloting of this methodology in the EECA region in 2020–2021.

The study was conducted by assessing the achievements in the implementation of pre-selected national commitments based on an analysis of published and open source documents related to the sustainability of HIV programs. The assessment was conducted by a national consultant with the support of a National Reference Group of Experts, including representatives of government, public and international organizations, as well as representatives of key communities.

The assessment findings included in this report indicate only progress towards the implementation of particular national commitments for the period 2021–2022, prioritized for the purposes of this assessment, categorized by key health system components and priority programmatic areas, and those that are directly relevant to the sustainability of the HIV response among key populations.

The following overall assessment of progress in implementing the selected commitments was obtained:

Table 1. Overall assessment of progress in meeting commitments by programmatic areas (commitments under the Human Rights programmatic area were not prioritized for evaluation)

Table 2. Overall assessment of progress in meeting commitments by health system domains

Republic of Moldova: Reassessment of the Implementation of the State Commitments to Ensure Sustainability of the HIV Response among Key Populations in the Context of Transition from Donor Support to Domestic Funding