Sustainability

The need for sustainability of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) services has been recognized since the World Health Organization and UNAIDS made their 2007 recommendation for VMMC for HIV prevention. That recommendation described a long-term maintenance phase to follow the initial scale-up phase. As VMMC programmes begin to enter that maintenance phase, sustainability is gaining prominence, and policy makers and programme planners are considering how to sustain VMMC services for as long as they are needed to prevent HIV.

Holistic VMMC sustainability includes fostering relationships with stakeholders in other sectors (such as ministries of education), as well as the many VMMC stakeholders needed to deliver a programme. The foundation of a sustainable programme is a health system that can provide six main building blocks: financing; service delivery , including choices of which age groups to prioritise and how to integrate with other health services; supplies and logistics; programme leadership and governance; a sufficient health workforce; and strategic information systems for monitoring performance and safety. Finally, maintaining a programme over time requires country leadership and ownership, community engagement and enabling policies.

Although experience with fully sustainable VMMC services does not yet exist, many initiatives are underway to explore some of these issues. This page offers a forum for sharing countries’ information and experiences, to inform each others’ journeys toward sustainability. A wide range of resource types are included. Some are final documents, but others are interim reports on initiatives in progress. New resources will be added as they become available.

National VMMC sustainability policies and plans (NEW - Zambia)

Resources

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Sustainability in Action: Integrating VMMC into Primary Health Care Webinar

Globally and nationally, governments and implementing partners are working together to integrate VMMC services into primary care.

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Zambia

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Transitioning to Sustainable VMMC Services: The Zambia Experience – Webinar Concept Note and Agenda

Slides and a recording are available from 10 December 2020 webinar about Zambia's experience transitioning to sustainable services.

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Zimbabwe

Sustaining Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) Services and Linkages with Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health: The Zimbabwe Smart-LINCAges Project updated
Sustaining Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Services and Linkages with Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health: The Zimbabwe Smart-LYNCAges Project

Zimbabwe's Ministry of Health and Child Care conducted a participatory learning project to inform the scale-up of integrated voluntary medical male circumcision and adolescent sexual and reproductive health services.

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