Democratic Republic of the Congo

ICAP is partnering with the Ministry of Health to increase access to comprehensive, quality HIV prevention, care, and treatment services in Kinshasa and Haut-Katanga provinces. ICAP is working primarily at health zones and health facilities to increase coverage, linkages, retention, and quality across HIV services using evidence-based approaches to maximize impact among hard-to-reach populations like children and adolescents, as well as provide targeted technical assistance at the national and provincial levels. In addition, ICAP is supporting the increase of targeted HIV prevention and care interventions for commercial sex workers and men who have sex with men in health zones with known concentrations of these key populations. (funded by PEPFAR through the CDC)

The Resilient and Responsive Health Systems initiative addresses gaps and challenges in DRC’s health system through training and education to strengthen the country’s human resources for health and improve health outcomes, with a targeted focus on decreasing new HIV infections, improving HIV-related health outcomes, and decreasing maternal and child mortality. The goal is to build a skilled health workforce that is fit for purpose and fit for practice, and is able to increase both the quality and availability of services at health centers and in the community. (funded by HRSA)

The Global Nurse Capacity Building Program (GNCBP) is a global health initiative that was administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), under the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, with funding from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). It was implemented by ICAP at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health (ICAP) from 2009 to 2018. GNCBP’s goal was to advance the HIV response toward epidemic control and to improve population health in sub-Saharan Africa by fostering individuals, institutions, and networks to expand, enhance, and sustain the nursing and midwifery workforce.

The program used a holistic approach to strengthen nursing and midwifery education and practice through two complementary sub-projects: the Nursing Education Partnership Initiative (NEPI), which expanded the health workforce by producing new nurses and midwives; and the General Nursing (GN) project, which supported the maintenance of a skilled health workforce through continuing professional development (CPD), in support of HIV care and treatment scale up and sustainability. Together, NEPI and GN interventions increased the quantity and quality of the nursing and midwifery workforce by addressing seven domains of health workforce development: infrastructure; curriculum; faculty; clinical skills; production; in-service training; and partnership for policy and regulation.

Find the GNCBP final report here

Find out more about NEPI and General Nursing

ICAP supported the acceleration and implementation of a Test and Start strategy for key populations at seven health facilities, including an evaluation of patient outcomes along the HIV care cascade.

ICAP also supported the introduction and implementation of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) service delivery for key populations at seven health facilities, including an evaluation of the uptake, initiation, and retention of PrEP services at select health facilities.

Find out more on the Global Technical Assistance Project Page

ICAP provided technical assistance at all levels of the health system to scale up HIV prevention, care, and treatment in Kinshasa and Katanga provinces. The scope of work included: expanding HIV services for PMTCT, integrating TB/HIV care, developing laboratory networks, establishing systems for monitoring and evaluation and quality improvement, and intensive mentoring and training for health care workers and peer educators. (funded by PEPFAR through the CDC)

View the End-of-Project brief here