Abstracts of the 10th Tanzania Health Summit

BackgroundPrior to 2017, planning, budgeting and financial management systems in Tanzania were only used up to the level of LGA headquarter.The systems were mainly stand-alone desk-top-based systems, making it time consuming for health workers to report and validate crucial HIV data and make decisions.There was also no visibility of HIV-related plans, budgets, and expenditures at health facilities, villages/mtaa and ward levels. Program Intervention/MethodologyThis abstract focuses on principles of local development and will share how the Government of Tanzania (GOT), with the support of USAID Public Sector Systems Strengthening (PS3 +) project, and in collaboration with other development and implementing partners, extended an integrated suite of planning, budgeting, and financial management systems to PHC facilities to increase visibility of HIV and other programmes plans. Results FindingIn 2017, the government took a deliberate decision to automate the process of planning, budgeting, and financial management using local experts.HIV-related service outputs were defined in the Plan-Rep system so funds spent could be linked to specific HIV service outputs.PlanRep also has space to include off-budget HIV interventions implemented by development and implementing partners.A complementary automated facility financial management system (FFARS) was enhanced to track HIV spending in all primary care facilities and village/mtaa levels.Currently, LGA planning processes have become more efficient by saving money and time to develop plans and budgets. Program Implication & Lesson LearnedAutomation of planning, budgeting and financial management processes, and their extension to lower-level facilities, has established an effective platform for planning, budgeting and expenditure management for HIV services.It has increased accountability and transparency of HIV plans to ensure that the right HIV services are delivered at the right time.