AFEW Projects  

Harm Reduction Training and Technical Support Programme in Belarus

Duration:
April 2005 – March 2008

Donors:
The MATRA programme of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Partners :
NGO ‘Positive Movement’ (Belarus), Belarusian Red Cross, Mainline (The Netherlands)

Country and regions:
Belarus, 7 oblasts of the Republic of Belarus

Background:

The number of officially registered HIV infections has increased from 113 cases at the end of 1995 to 6,799 cases (or 69.4 per 100,000 population aged 15-49) by 1 October, 2005 (AIDS Department of the Republican Centre of Epidemiology, Hygiene and Public Health, 2005). Most experts, including the World Health Organisation assume however the actual number of cases to be well above the official figure, approximately three times higher.

The main groups at risk of contracting and spreading HIV in Belarus continue to be young people and injecting drug users (IDUs) (AIDS Department of the Republican Centre of Epidemiology, Hygiene and Public Health, 2005). Needle-sharing practices and the potentially hazardous preparation techniques are still the main causes of contracting HIV. IDUs represent about 68% of all registered people living with HIV/AIDS in Belarus. However, similar to neighbouring countries such as Ukraine and Moldova, Belarus is facing an increase in HIV transmission through sexual contact. The share increased from 27.16% in 2001, 34.9% in 2002 and 35.5% in 2003 to 48.7% in 2004. This trend is linked to high levels of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), in particular among young people and sex workers (National AIDS Centre, 2003).

Until the beginning of 2005, 42 governmental needle exchange points (NEPs) and five harm reduction (HR)/NEP projects run by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were operational in Belarus.

In January 2005 UNDP, the principal recipient of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) grant in Belarus started its programme titled, “HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in Belarus”. One of the project’s components is HIV prevention among IDUs. Within the frame of the component funding and support is provided to HR/NEP projects and condoms and information distributed.

Despite the interventions planned in the GFATM project, UNDP, local NGOs and experts of the AIDS Department stressed the need of additional  support in the field of harm reduction trainings  to ensure a comprehensive approach to HIV prevention among IDUs, to increase the access of IDUs to services and information, to provide a platform for information and experience exchange among harm reduction projects within Belarus and the region, to train on topics that the GFATM project does not cover such as counselling, case management etc., to improve the quality of services provided and to institutionalise training activities.

AFEW, given its vast experience in HIV/AIDS and HR programming in the former Soviet Union, will undertake a range of activities within the project in collaboration with its Dutch partner organisation Mainline to provide the necessary trainings and technical support in co-operation with the UN agencies and other international and national organisations.

Positive Movement, an NGO in Belarus which is mainly driven by people living with HIV/AIDS and has been identified by AFEW as the key local counterpart organisation in the implementation of the Matra-funded programme, is also one of the key implementing organisations involved in the GFATM project in Belarus. This will help to ensure the close coordination of both projects’ activities.

Belarusian Red Cross will be another partner in the project. The organization started running harm reduction services in six small towns. They are also closely cooperating with Positive Movement and involved in the implementation of the GFATM HR project component.

Overall goal

To improve HIV prevention among IDUs in Belarus and thus reduce the spread and impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Belarus. At the end of the three-year programme cycle, accessible and effective HR/NEP projects for IDUs in Belarus and the National HR Network have been developed, implemented or strengthened and evaluated with support of a national team of trainers.

The main specific objectives:

• Team of national HR trainers will have been selected, trained, provided with methodological materials and evaluated in terms of capacities to provide HR/NEP project staff with information support and trainings. The team of trainers will be recognised by governmental and non-governmental structures as an expert group in the field, and will work in close co-operation with key stakeholders to support HR/NEPs projects.

• Improved knowledge and skills of selected HR/NEP project staff and professionals dealing with IDUs through information materials, regular site visits, trainings, consultations, and field trips to other HR/NEP projects in the former Soviet Union.

• Increased capacities of HR/NEP projects, coordinated by the NGO Positive Movement, in terms of co-operation (networking) and providing clients of HR/NEP projects with access to quality services through effective HR measures, including outreach work, distribution of adequate information, referral to appropriate services and monitoring.