The Ministry of Health of Kyrgyzstan has formed a multi-disciplinary working group of specialists to plan, coordinate, and implement transition planning for TB and HIV. The group is already staffed by management, procurement, public health, and finance specialists. Representatives of civil society organizations and communities are also included. Other positions will be added.

A transition preparedness assessment framework has been developed for the Global Fund by Curatio International Foundation (CIF), a Georgian NGO. The framework is designed to allow countries to assess their readiness to fully fund and implement their TB and HIV programs once they no longer receive financial support from The Global Fund and other donors.

One of the grants recently approved by the Global Fund is the first ever regional TB grant in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The EECA is the region with the highest burden of the drug-sensitive and drug-resistant TB: Less than 50% of cases have been detected and successfully treated.

The International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine has received approval to submit a regional TB/HIV concept note in 2016. The concept note will focus on providing services to key affected populations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia using a “city service model” pioneered in Western Europe.

Georgia’s concept notes for both HIV and TB are closely reflecting the priorities identified in their national strategic plans, a recent WHO evaluation has found, but must ensure that more interventions focus on improving case detection rates for the two diseases.

Seeking to bolster local capacity to advocate for resources, implement and monitor programs ahead of countries' graduation from Global Fund eligibility, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine will lead a new regional technical assistance project across Eastern Europe and Central Asia.The project will be supported by the Global Fund's Community, Rights and Gender (CRG) Special Initiative and will run through 2017.

Sixteen Eastern European and Central Asian countries (EECA) will submit a total of 27 concept notes to the Global Fund under the new funding model, to access their share of the $659 million allocated to the region. For some of these countries, this is likely to be their last allocation of Fund grants as they transition out of eligibility towards state-funded programs for the fight against HIV and TB.

With the end of eligibility for Bosnia and Herzegovina for Global Fund support, World Vision is drawing-down its long-running outreach program that worked to promote a better understanding of TB and HIV among the country's marginalized Roma populations.

Civil society groups in Eastern Europe and Central Asia continue to issue dire prognostications about the impact that the reduced contribution by the Global Fund to their harm reduction and other activities is having under the new funding model.

Recognizing that the Eastern European/Central Asian region is alone globally with a steady increase in HIV prevalence and growth of MDR-TB, the Global Fund has, in consultation with an array of local, regional and international partners, developed new guidance to promote domestic financing and strategic priority setting.