SRH and HIV/AIDS Linkages at Policies, Programmes and Service ...

the major breakthrough in linking thetwo programmes.“Donor agencies are notinterested in linking these twoprogrammes because of theirterritorial interests, and fundingmechanisms, otherwise theseservices could have been linkedby now”.Few respondents remarked that “HIV isnot a priority programme of the GoN;these are donor supported programmes.Therefore if some EDPs can push it orfacilitate it, there will be linkage. Someargued that advocacy for linkage shouldcome from the grass roots level.Upon further questioning, NGOsand GoN officials both reported thatthe national RH strategy (1998)1 hasidentified HIV as one of the eightcomponents of RH. Linkages havebeen made into the National SafeMotherhood and New-born Health –Long Term Plan (2006-2017).Most of the respondents agreed that thelinkage is weak and not systematicallydesigned. Few respondents alsoargued that the strategies and policieswere developed at different points oftime, further reducing the ability todesign a linkage between policies andprogrammes. Most of the NGO andcivil society respondents remarked thatbecause of the specific mandate of theorganisations, these two programmesare running independent of each other.While the MoHP is responsible foroverall policy, the FHD is responsiblefor SRH planning; and the NCASC isresponsible for HIV/AIDS planningat the departmental level.Some of the respondents from GoNacknowledged that there is jointplanning between the two departmentsat the DoHS and the MoHP levelon an annual basis. Civil society andNGO partners view that as a mereadministrative exercise, rather than ameaningful discussion for linking SRHand HIV. Neither departments haveraised concerns for linking SRH andHV or vice versa.Nepal is party to several human rightstreaties including the Conventionon the Elimination of All Formsof Discrimination Against Women(CEDAW). While strategy emphasisis on integrated service delivery, intersectoralcoordination of all healthprogrammes endorses internationalconsensus documents related to SRHand HIV, such as the declarationsarising from ICPD 1994, UNGASSDeclaration on the Universal AccessInitiative and the Three Onesprinciples, CEDAW Beijing Platformof Action, and the 2000 UnitedNations Millennium Declaration.The strategy is also well linked to theWHO/UNAIDS Universal AccessInitiatives by recognising that in Nepal’sconcentrated HIV epidemic, 70 percent of MARPs should be reached byHIV prevention programmes.The Tenth Five Year DevelopmentPlan, 2003-2007, NHSP II andThree Year Interim Plan and UNDAFidentifies the HIV epidemic as a highpriority programme in the healthsector. The plan focuses on the need73