Table 2 Policy development and review processes for the HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) and Safe Male Circumcision (SMC) policies at the Ministry of Health, Uganda

Duration of policy development and implementation process

2 years (planned duration to completion was 8 months)

1 year (planned duration was 6 months)

Presence of guidelines

No specific guidelines followed

No specific guidelines followed

Technical working team (15)

Leader: DG, MoH; technical staff, implementing partners, development agencies, academicians, and CSO

SMC National Task Force (NTF) for HIV prevention included senior MoH technical staff members, development partners, implementing partners and CSO

Technical team selection

Based on previous experience in policy development engagement, experience in HCT implementation

Appointed by the Director General MoH Team included experienced persons in HIV response

Technical working group meeting

Several held to produce draft 0

Consultant hired right from the beginning to produce draft 0

Consultative meetings

Held to develop drafts 1 and 2

Held to produce draft 2

-Stakeholders meeting produced draft 3

Peer review by technical team

Develop draft 3

NTF reviewed draft 0 to produce draft 3

Senior management committee review

Develop draft 4

NTF forwarded final report tosenior management that developed draft 4

Director general of Health Services

Endorsed draft 4

Endorsed draft 4

Launching

Launched by MoH before public use

Challenges

Limited indigenous funding for policy development activities

Limited policy development activities

Busy TWG members