Role of the Global Fund in national HIV/AIDS response in Myanmar: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: The Global Fund has been a major funding source for HIV/AIDS programs in Myanmar. In this qualitative study, we aim to understand the impact of Global Fund on national HIV/AIDS response in Myanmar during the era of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). METHODS: We conducted individual in-depth interviews by recruiting key informants through purposive snowball sampling. The respondents were engaged in the national/subnational response to HIV/AIDS in Myanmar and worked for the United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and civil society. Interview questions were organized around the role of Global Fund in strengthening national response to HIV/AIDS in the six building blocks of the Myanmar’s health system. Transcripts from the key informants were synthesized into specific themes through a deductive approach. RESULTS: We found that the Global Fund has provided substantial support to (1) finance the national HIV/AIDS response in Myanmar, and (2) strengthen leadership and governance at the central level through improving coordination and collaboration, including more stakeholders (e.g. civil society, NGOs) in decision making process, and catalyzing policy changes on scaling-up key interventions. Yet, its role remains limited in addressing new demands at the township level in terms of capacity building, staffing, and medical supply resulting from rapid scale-up of HIV interventions and decentralization of service delivery in the public sector. CONCLUSION: There was a missed opportunity for Myanmar to capitalize on the use of the Global Fund’s funding to strengthen the health system. Deliberate planning is required to optimize the use of those scarce resources to provide universal coverage for HIV/AIDS. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s41256-021-00212-4.