I'm a traveller, not a tourist!

Thursday I had a slight headache and stomachache all day. After work, it just kept getting worse and I felt really nauseous. I couldn’t sleep all Thursday night; I was running to the bathroom every half hour. Come Friday morning, I was miserable and checked into Om Hospital to find out I had food poisoning. I got medication and went home to rest for the weekend. I also called my boss Friday morning to tell him I couldn’t come into work to find out that he had also called in sick, in addition to two other coworkers. So it was something we all shared…

Today is World Blood Donor Day
"Millions of people owe their lives to people they will never meet – people who donate their blood freely and without any reward. However, the overwhelming majority of the world’s population do not have access to safe blood. Over 80 million units of blood are donated every year, but only 38% are collected in developing countries where 82% of the global population live.
In addition, many countries remain dependent on donation by the families or friends of patients who require blood and, in some countries, blood donors still receive payment.Yet evidence from around the world demonstrates that voluntary unpaid donors are the foundation of a safe blood supply because they are least likely to transmit potentially life-threatening infections, such as HIV and hepatitis viruses, to the recipients of their blood. It is to these unsung heroes that World Blood Donor Day is dedicated."

I would donate blood...except I didn't qualify because of my weight >.<
Anyhow, I did get to find out my blood type is O+.

UNDP is currently supporting one project by the Nepal Red Cross Society on Safe Blood Supply. We are providing a lot of the capacity building through trainings for phlebotomists, total quality management training, blood bank management and logistic training, motivational and recruitment training, refresher training to staff, and interaction meetings with donor organizations. UNDP also provides IEC materials to NRCS for promotion of HIV/AIDS awareness.

Following in line with monitoring and evaluation, today I had to collect all the data from each Program Officer for their respective regions. Basically looking at the targets which were outlined in their Terms of References, and comparing them to the outputs achieved for the past two quarters. With the majority of programs, it was interesting to see how Quarter 2 scaled up and in some cases almost doubled their outputs. Some of the outputs recorded include the number of migrants and families reached by Peer Educators and Outreach Educators, the number of clients benefited by Information and Counseling Centers, the number of clients utilizing VCT Centers, number of HIV tests conducted, number of patients treated for STI, number of IEC distributed, number of BCC education, number of condoms distributed, number of community advocacy programs conducted, number of street dramas…etc.

I absolutely love the team I work with. Wednesday night we went out for dinner and drinks at one of our coworker’s restaurants.

Heres the group

Wow i look nerdy

Coworkers

So my task for this week is to edit and make revisions to the “Monitoring and Evaluation Plan for Responding to HIV/AIDS.” This document basically illustrates the mechanisms developed for monitoring and evaluation of the Global Fund activities to which UNDP PMU is the principal recipient. An M&E plan is one of the requirements for obtaining a grant from the Global Fund in order to be able to track activities. Accordingly the plan is designed to help identify program outputs/successes, the impact of specific activities, as well as areas which need adjustments in order to achieve intended results. It is also important to mention that there is a current National M&E plan, so we had to ensure that the UNDP M&E plan is drafted to compliment the existing national plan. This document was therefore also created with close consultation with the National Centre for AIDS and STD control and the National Monitoring and Evaluation Technical Working Group.

So I was supposed to go to Chitwan Monday and Tuesday this week for a field visit. I was pretty excited until another strike was declared in the Terai for Monday and Tuesday. Way to spoil the plans. It has been deemed unsafe to travel to Chitwan, so this week I will be stuck in the office.

Monday morning started with our usual staff meeting. The Global Fund has provided UNDP PMU with a budget to be allocated for a Hotline Advocacy project. Accordingly, all interested networks and associations have been requested to submit their proposals by this week. A team consisting of various UN agency representatives and representatives from the National Center on HIV/AIDS will then review and select the best proposal to execute the project.

UNDP PMU has also been allocated a budget from Global Fund for an HIV/AIDS project in cantonment. As of now it is not clear how this project will be implemented, but due to the success of projects with uniformed services (Nepalese Army and national Police), we are hoping to launch a similar project. We’ve also heard that UNMIN is recruiting for an international HIV/AIDS specialist for Nepal, so we are hoping to be able to work with them.

To give some background on uniformed services and HIV/AIDS in Nepal - According to a recent survey, one third of the clients of sex workers in Nepal are policemen or soldiers, thus making them vulnerable to HIV infection. Consequently, Nepal’s National Action Plan on HIV/AIDS included the integration of HIV/AIDS into the training curriculum for Army and Police. UNDP has also supported many information sessions to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS among the Nepalese Army and Police. Currently, UNDP is supporting the continuation of VCT Centers at the Birendra Police Hospital in Kathmandu, as well as the HIV/AIDS and STI Prevention and Control Program for the Nepalese Army. Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centers provide clients with professional counseling before and after an HIV test. This process helps people prepare for and understand their test results. Those who test negative can learn ways to avoid becoming infected, while those who test positive learn how to live longer, healthier lives and prevent further transmission to others. VCT services are key to preventing further spread of the virus, as well as to promote awareness and education about HIV/AIDS.