District HIV/AIDS Coordination

The adoption of the Decentralization Policy in 1995 evolved power to Local Authorities also Districts. This came at a time when Uganda AIDS Commission had thru consultations developed coordination guidelines and was establishing District AIDS Coordination Committees. These were eventually not sustained by many districts when donor support came to an end as they were regarded as a top-down approach. A few districts sustained the coordination mechanism through active resource mobilization.

As a follow-up to identified gaps and obstacles in district coordination during the 2000 national strategic planning exercise, a team of technical officers drawn from various organization including Ministry of Health, Ministry of Local Government and Uganda AID Commission conducted consultation among district and national level stakeholders on effective district coordination. The exercise culminated in the development of the District Coordination guidelines(.pdf doc) that have been adopted with consensus by a cross-section of leaders from all districts. The Ministry of Local Government has distributed these guidelines officially.

A Self Coordinating Entity of Decentralized entities has also been established to promote dialogue among stakeholders about coordination and management of the national response at district and lower levels