Page 1 PROJECT INFORMATION DOCUMENT (PID) APPRAISAL STAGE Report No.: AB3401 Project Name Additional Financing for the Chad Second Population and HIV/AIDS Project Region AFRICA Sector Health (60%);Other social services (20%);Central government administration (20%) Project ID P105724 Borrower(s) REPUBLIC OF CHAD Implementing Agency Population & AIDS Control Project Ministry of Economy and Planning N'Djamena Chad Tel: 235 52 65 16 IMS@intnet.td Environment Category [ ] A [X] B [ ] C [ ] FI [ ] TBD (to be determined) Date PID Prepared November 29, 2007 Date of Appraisal Authorization December 5, 2007 Date of Board Approval January 15, 2008 A. Key development issues and rationale for Bank involvement 1. The political instability experienced by Chad during the last three decades has severely compromised the country’s economic and social development, and the country’s most vulnerable groups (women and children) have witnessed a further deterioration of their already precarious living conditions. To date, an estimated 80% of the Chadian population live with less than $1/day and the country ranks 173 out of 177 on the UNDP Human Development Index scale (UNDP 2006). In addition to that, the continued turmoil and unrest in the neighboring countries has resulted in an influx of refugees. This situation, along with the particularly high fertility rate (6.3 in 2005), has inevitably contributed to a rapid population increase and considerably overstretched the capacity of health services across the country. A 2005 national HIV survey found adult HIV prevalence at 3.3%, with a peak at 8% in the capital N’Djamena. Incidence among women is higher than among men, even more so among young girls between the age of 15 and 25, with an estimated 200 000 people, including children, living with HIV in the whole country (WHO, 2007). The main factors contributing to vulnerability to HIV/AIDS include low condom use, multiple sexual partners, poverty, low education status of women and girls, socio political insecurity, conflict and limited access to AIDS services. 2. The Bank-financed Second Population and HIV/AIDS Prevention Project was approved on July 12, 2001 and became effective on April 11, 2002. The closing date is currently January 31, 2008. The total amount of the credit is SDR 19.5 million (US$24.56 million equivalent). As of October 22, 2007, SDR 18.8 million of the IDA Credit amount has been disbursed, which is around 99 percent of the total credit. Since the reorientation of project activities in accordance with the recommendations of the mid-term review and following the re-launching of activities in Page 2 June 2006 after suspension of the portfolio, the project is achieving good results on the ground with respect to the decentralized local response approach for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS. Achievement of the project development objective and implementation progress is currently satisfactory. An assessment on progress towards achieving the project development objectives indicates that these are likely to be achieved with respect to the HIV/AIDS indicators. Knowledge about HIV/AIDS has increased in both men and women and the use of condoms has increased for both men and women (respectively in 1997 and 2004, for men from 1.8% to 24. 6%, for women 2.6% to 17%) and for military personnel, use during non- union sexual contacts, has greatly increased (67.6%). B. Proposed objective(s) 3. Project objectives would remain unchanged form the original project. The development objective of the project is to contribute to changing the behavior of the Chadian population to reduce the risk of: (i) HIV infection; and (ii) too closely spaced and/or unwanted pregnancies. C. Rationale for Bank Involvement 4. Although the official HIV prevalence rate appears to have stabilized at around 5 percent, high rates of STIs coupled with high risk sexual behavior could translate into rapid growth of new incidence of HIV infection. According to the last available data (UNAIDS, 2006), the cumulated number of AIDS cases in Chad is 11,681 with around 200,000 HIV positive persons. Heterosexual transmission is the predominant mode of transmission with high-risk groups emerging as a result of certain socio-cultural characteristics of Chad (i.e. migration to other countries where the prevalence rate is higher, frequent conflicts, the status of women, activities linked to the oil field development in the South). These high-risk groups include the youth, and especially young women, commercial sex workers and the military. Women still remain at a higher risk of infection (18 percent of them reported the use of a condom during their last at-risk sexual intercourse in 2004 compared with 3 percent in 1997) and prevalence rates tend to be higher in women than in men. Results of the local response activities indicate that in Ndjamena and Logone Occidental, HIV prevalence among at-risk groups is likely more than double the official prevalence of these regions of around 6 percent (according to the 2005 national HIV prevalence survey). In a country where a large share of the population is not aware of their HIV status yet (especially among the high-risk groups) and at time when the capacity of health services nationwide is overstretched, targeted interventions (such as those expected under the additional financing) are needed to prevent the epidemic from spreading further. 5. In these circumstances, continued World Bank support through the additional financing is crucial for the continued implementation of the integrated decentralized activities as the Bank is the only major financier of HIV/AIDS activities within the country, other than the Global Fund. The latter has only recently lifted its suspension and given the time necessary to re-launch activities in Chad, implementation of activities may take some time. Moreover, the additional financing would permit the scaling-up of the local integrated response to HIV/AIDS and other well-performing STI/HIV/AIDS prevention and care activities to a region that is highly at risk for an explosion of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Page 3 6. Although the reoriented project activities have produced some positive and tangible results, a thorough evaluation of the project impact is needed to document the main accomplishments achieved by the project. The systematic collection of epidemiological data in the targeted regions as well as the final evaluation would also provide a thorough understanding of the new trends in the spread of the epidemic (thus addressing the changing epidemiological and HIV vulnerability scenario through more tailored activities) and would also pave the way to the scaling-up and further targeting of those activities which produced the most tangible results on the ground. These lessons together with the results of the evaluation would provide input into the design of the new Multi-country HIV/AIDS Project (MAP) for Chad, expected to start in mid-2009. D. Description 7. The proposed project would continue to finance the mobile and existing health centers in Logone Occidental and Ndjamena, including drugs, medical supplies, reagents, STI kits and condoms, to provide quality STI and voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) services. The project would finance 64 community-based organizations (CBO) undertaking peer education, social mobilization, condom promotion, and social support to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs) and orphans. In addition, the project would extend these activities to the existing health centers in Logone Oriental, put in place two mobile units to provide the same set of comprehensive STI and VCT services, and finance 25 CBOs. Finally the proposed project would extend population and reproductive health services to cover all health districts in Moyen Kebbi Ouest through the continued support of two mobile units and existing health centers and finance a third mobile unit to provide integrated reproductive health services, including family planning and vaccination. This support would include vehicles, equipment, drugs, medical supplies, contraceptives, training and financing of 19 CBOs. E. Financing Source: ($m.) BORROWER/RECIPIENT 0 International Development Association (IDA) 7 Total 7 F. Implementation 8. The implementation arrangements under the additional financing would be the same as for the original project, as they are working well. The Ministry of Economy and Plan (MEP) is responsible for the planning, management and coordination of project activities through a Steering Committee presided by the Secrétaire Générale of the MEP. The day-to-day coordination of project activities is undertaken by the Project Coordination Team (PCT), headed by a Project Coordinator under the direct supervision of the Secrétaire Générale of the MEP. The team also includes a senior administrator, a chief accountant, an internal auditor, a procurement specialist and a monitoring and evaluation specialist. Local response and community interventions are coordinated by FOSAP, a national fund that has been responsible for the selection, procurement, financial management, and monitoring of community sub- projects all over the country for over 10 years. FOSAP continues to be managed by an Page 4 administrator, with a team of two grant officers, a monitoring and evaluation specialist, and an accountant. Implementation arrangements, including procurement, financial management and monitoring and evaluation, are detailed in the PPLS2 Project Execution Manuel, the FOSAP Grant Operational Manual and the FOSAP Administrative and Financial Manual. G. Sustainability 9. The project will scale up and mainstream its activities into several Government sector programs, such as provision of STI, VCT and reproductive health services and by tapping into community organizations resources. The project emphases on institutional capacity building at the local level which is expected to enhance the sustainability of the project and its local sub- projects. H. Lessons Learned from Past Operations in the Country/Sector 10. The project builds on a number of lessons learned from other projects and especially from implementation of the on-going project. In particular, the mid-term review of the project was held in December 2005 and made a series of recommendations to refocus project activities in order to ensure better results on the ground. These recommendations included: (i) further decentralization and more integrated response to STI/HIV/AIDS at the local level; (ii) delivery of a complementary package of services for PLWHAs; (iii) emphasis on the prevention and treatment of STIs; and (iv) renewed focus on behavioral change, through high quality peer education programs. I. Safeguard Policies (including public consultation) 11. The only safeguard triggered is the environmental assessment, because a medical waste management plan (MWMP) is required. This plan was disclosed in July 2007 and public consultations held in August 2007. J. List of Factual Technical Documents Project Appraisal Document, Second Population and HIV/AIDS Project Annual Project Reports Annual FOSAP reports K. 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