MINUTES OF THE HEALTH SECTOR RVIEW GROUP MEETING HELD ON 27Th

							PMINUTES OF THE HEALTH SECTOR RVIEW GROUP MEETING HELD ON
27Th FEBRUARY, MOH CONFERENCE ROOM


MEMBERS PRESENT

NAME            ORGANISATION         ADDRESS EMAIL ADDRESS                    CONTACT
                                                                              NUMBER
Dr F Zawaira    WHO                                 zawairaf@mw.afroshoint    8826799
Dr J Lane       DFID                                jason-lane@dfid.gov.uk    8202775
Mr M Matemba HREP - CSO              Box 30322 BT   mazikomm@yahoo.com        9951274
Dr M Hable   GDC - DED               P/Bag 470,     michaelhable@gmail.com    9163464
                                     LL3
Mr O Phiri      BLM                  Box 3008, BT   banja@banja.cvg.mw         8799299
Gift Kamanga    UNC - PROJECT        P/Bag A104,    gkamang@unclilingwe.org.mw 8870623
                                     LL3
R Broadhead     P. COLLEGE OF        P/Bag 360,     rbroadhead@medcol.mw      8829359
                MEDICINE             BT3
M Chimoyo       R, KCN               P/Bag 1,LL     registrar@kcn.unima.mw    8374250
Hudson          M.O.H                Box30377,      hudsonnkunika@yahoo.com   8563354
Nkunika                              LL3
Vincent         SIGHTSAVERS INT.     P/Bag A197,    vkaunda@malawi.net        8314202
Kaunda                               LL
Rose            CHAM                 Box 30378,     rosek@africa-online.net   08206890/
Kumwenda-                            LL3                                      09511791
Ng'oma
Dr Noor Alide   DDSWAP (secretary)   Box 30377,LL healh.swap.malawi@gmail.com 8366786
C V Kang'ombe   SH (chair)
M Y Hassan      DOFA
Harry Gondwe CH - CMS                P/Bag 55, LL gondwehh@yahoo.com          8869329




(1-3) OPENING PRAYER, WELCOME REMARKS, ADOPTION OF AGENDA

The meeting was opened at 09:15 am with a prayer followed by welcome remarks from
the Chairperson and self introductions by members. Agenda prepared for the meeting was
adopted without amendment.

(4) REVIEW OF MINUTES OF 20TH NOVEMBER2008 HSRG MEETING

Minutes of last HSRG meeting were presented and adopted without any corrections.
The chairman expressed his displeasure about the fact that he had received the minutes
only 20 minutes before this meeting.


Progress on action points:


Action Point HSRG 20th November 2008                 Progress
Action Point 1: SWAP Sec to report on progress       Completed
made towards harmonization of planning
frameworks and sharing of responsibilities
Action Point 2: MOH and partners to avoid            Action being taken
scheduling side meetings or other functions during
the JAR sessions
Action Point 3: SWAP Secretariat to correct          Attempt made, but these pieces of
contradictory information in different sections of   information come from different data
the JAR report.                                      sources (regarding availability of
                                                     HIV test kits)
Action Point 4: JAR/Midyear Review preparatory       Action being taken, MYR reduced to
Taskforce to explore possibility of reducing the     2 days, with the possibility of side
period of the review.                                meetings on day 3
Action Point 5: SWAp Sec to introduce daily          Noted and to be enforced
registers during the next reviews to capture the
exact number of participants.
Action Point 6: Planning Dept to provide final AIP   AIP finalized and ready for
once budget document has been circulated by          circulation by next week
Treasury.
Action Points7 : Procurement Plan to be completed    Done
by end of November and circulated to members
Action point 8:Pprocurement Department to verify     Global Fund
with Environmental Health Dept on the source of
funding for construction of emergency ware
houses
Action Point 8: Revised CMS transformation           Done as agreed on 8th December
Roadmap to be circulated                             2008
Action Point 9: CMS to circulate monthly tracer      Done to DHOs
products report
Action Point 10: Policy on management of drugs       The director is not aware of any
directly procured by DPs                             policy in this area, but there was a
                                                     milestone at the 2006 mid year
to be circulated                                     review
Action point 11: CMS to submit information to        In progress
show delivery trends and Chief Pharmacist to
provide information on consumption pattern
Action Pont 12: MOH to speed up completion of       Progress being made. Last meeting to
the TA exit strategy and the concept note to ensure be done first week of March 09
timely recruitment of TAs for key areas of the
MOH and CMS.
Action Point:13: Mr Matemba to send the meeting Report not yet in
report to the SWAp Secretariat for circulation to
members.




(5) MATTERS ARISING FROM PREVIUS MINUTES

Observation made on the progress included the need for clarification on previous action
points:

The validity of SWAp M&E Framework was questioned and the meeting agreed on the
following action point

Action point 1The capability of the ZHSOs to validate the HMIS data has to be
strengthened → CMED to take action immediately




The meeting was informed that monthly tracer products report is circulated to the DHO
.however the meeting agreed that ZHSo and members of the HSRG need to be included
in the circulation list,



Action point 2: CMS to circulate monthly tracer products report not only to DHOs, but
also to the members of HSRG and the ZHSOs




The meeting noted that drugs directly procured by district pharmacies,donations and
drugs procured by partners are not recorded in the stock cards

Action point 3: ZHSOs to find out, whether directly procured drugs are entered in the
stock cards of district pharmacies ASAP
(6): UPDATE ON PREPARATIONS FOR JOINT HEALTH SECTOR MID YEAR

   REVIEW



The meeting was informed that the Mid Year Review had been rescheduled to 7th/8th
April 2009 due to unavailability of the Minister at the previous date.




It was reported that the current practice of the late and unsystematic preparation of data
collection tools for the SWAp reviews results in poor information being collected from
the districts. The following actionnpoint was suggested.



Action point 3: SWAp secretariat to organise standardisation of data collection tools for
the joint reviews and to include the ZHSOs in this process




(7) UPDATE ON CHOLERA SITUATION AND WAY FORWARD




On cholera the chairperson indicated that Malawi needs to put more effort in improving
water & sanitation to prevent cholera outbreaks in the future. He appreciated the support
from donors and development partners.


 Members recognized the hard work, which is being put in place to combat the Cholera
epidemic and to maintain the intensive response. It was suggested that there is need to
allocate a contingency for emergencies in the budget for 2009/2010.


(8) FUNDING FOR HEALTH SERVICES
The DOFA explained the reasons for the current pressure on the MoH budget:

      CMS was paid outside the budget, especially some emergency orders
      The Malaria program budged was 1.1 Billion MK, but the actual total costs
       reached 1.8 Billion MK
      Commitments from last year in the amount of 200 Million MK have been carried
       over
      Recruitment of 300 new nurses and 60 doctors, whose personal emoluments were
       not budgeted for – MoH in general do not budget for vacant positions
      The budgeted personal emoluments for CHAM were exhausted after 6 months
      Malawi Blood Transfusion Service has been funded by the EU, but they pulled
       out and MoH had to take over
      Obligations with Global Fund (Health Service Strengthening Program)
      The submitted budget for 2008/2009 had been 34 Billion MK, but Treasury
       approved only 31 Billion MK
      Treasury recovered money from MoH budget, which was given to MoH last year
       to replace failing donor support



Due to the budget constraints procurement had to be cut down. This is a big problem for
the MoH. The start of the first year students at MoH training institutions to be postponed
from April to September/October 09. The MoH considers to demand contributions from
the students towards the costs of the training courses, like it is done at Teacher Training
Colleges.



He asked the development partners to provide information about their pledges for the
2009/2010 budget.



Action point: Development partners to provide information about their support for the
MoH budget in the next financial year 2009/2010 to the DOFA as soon as possible.




The following issues were noted at the meeting:

      Global Fund support is not predictable, because of complicated disbursement
       procedures
      A continued dialogue is needed between MoH and Ministry of Finance
      DFID offers to disburse some of the allocated funds of the 4th quarter already
       during the 3rd quarter of the current financial year, in order to ease the financial
       constraints of the MoH




(9) ANY OTHER BUSINESS



CHAM

      CHAM training colleges will reopen on 1st March/9th March 09, but there are no
       resources for exams
      St Johns Hospital in Mzuzu had to close due to financial problems. They would
       need about 50 Million MK in the next 6 months to reopen.




DFID

      The development partners are very concerned about the proposed TA pool, They
       need an update about the concept from MoH to give their support, ideally until the
       next Health Donor Group meeting on 4th March 09.
      DFID offers support to the preparations of the SWAp Midyear Review (outline of
       presentations, timetable)




DATE of NEXT Meeting

Having completed discussions of all agenda items, the chairperson thanked the members
for their participation and indicated that the next meeting will be in May 2009, exact date
will be communicated later.



The meeting was adjourned with prayer at 11:30 am.