Immediate risks or disruptions

1. Vertical transmission services: An impact assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health, supported by UNICEF, confirms:
   • Staffing gaps and shortages: There are significant staffing gaps affecting the availability of counsellors and other essential personnel.
   • Testing disruptions: HIV testing services are disrupted, with specific issues such as a non-operational point-of-care machine in one district.
   • Overcrowding: There is overcrowding in health facilities across all 10 districts due to staff shortages.
   • Data quality issues: Data completion and quality are severely impacted as nurses struggle with using the registers.
   • Resource allocation: The field assessment highlights the need for reprogramming of, and additional, resources.
2. Service restart challenges:
   • Partners who received waivers to restart services are facing difficulties in resuming operations effectively.

Politically relevant updates

1. Government actions:
   • A national resource mapping exercise has been launched by the Ministry of Health to guide reprogramming within the health sector. This exercise aims to provide a detailed understanding of available resources to support broader health sector interventions.