In 2023, CQUIN is looking forward to supporting countries through engaging learning activities that will focus on its expanded scope of work – differentiated testing and linkage services, as well as differentiated treatment models for people established on treatment and those with advanced HIV disease, people with HIV and non-communicable diseases, pregnant and breastfeeding women, key and priority populations, and other groups.
Here is a snapshot of what to expect in the year ahead.
Four meetings for the in-person exchange of knowledge and resources
CQUIN will convene four all-network meetings this year. The meetings kick off this February with a Ministry of Health Strategic Planning Meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
“CQUIN’s focus areas have diversified, and the Strategic Planning Meeting gives us the opportunity to maximize country leadership in the network as we plan for the coming year. In addition, the meeting provides an opportunity to build on the work done at the 6th Annual Meeting in December, and to enhance national DSD action plans as countries move into the next PEPFAR and Global Fund funding cycles,” said Miriam Rabkin, MD, MPH, ICAP director for Health System Strategies and CQUIN principal investigator.
Following the MOH Strategic Planning meeting, CQUIN will host an all-network meeting on Differentiated Testing and Linkage in Nairobi, Kenya in March 2023, where countries will debut results from the CQUIN Differentiated HIV Testing Services (dHTS) capability maturity model. The dHTS meeting will convene country teams to discuss key issues related to the differentiated HIV testing cascade, which include mobilizing, testing, and linkage to posttest services.
CQUIN will also host a virtual all-network meeting on Integrated DSD Services in August, focusing on person-centered service delivery and the integration of non-HIV services into HIV programs, including family planning, TB preventive treatment, non-communicable disease services, and mental health services. All network activities will culminate with the 7th CQUIN annual meeting, which will take place in South Africa in November 2023.
Beyond the all-network meetings, CQUIN will continue to engage countries and foster learning through its webinars, country-to-country visits, community-of-practice meetings, country assessment visits, DSD performance reviews, and more. CQUIN will also support the co-creation of tools. In collaboration with the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC), CQUIN is developing a toolkit to support countries to assess and improve recipient of care satisfaction with DSD services.
“The tool is still in draft stages and is under review,” said Gillian Dougherty, BSN, MPH, senior quality improvement advisor at ICAP. “We will share the progress made to date during the CQUIN February webinar and then present an almost final draft at the March dHTS meeting, where we hope to receive feedback to start a peer review pre-release with a few countries. We will then continue the discussion and exchange of best practices during the April CQUIN webinar and throughout the year.”
