During the meeting, 50 representatives of state, public and international organizations from Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, Khatlon and Sughd Region, and the city of Dushanbe talked about the interaction of state and public organizations in providing integrated and coordinated services to key populations in the field of HIV, TB/HIV.
The project ‘Improved TB/HIV Prevention & Care – Building Models for the Future’ is aimed at increasing government recognition of the role and quality of the non-public sector for TB/HIV service delivery, providing TB/HIV services according to agreed standards, encouraging civil society to be the active participant in monitoring quality of services, ensuring that clients have affordable options and trust in service provision, stronger linkages between government, project and civil society.
Civil society NGO activists in Ukraine are developing a new legislation on sex work. According to them, eliminating the fines could help increasing access to medical care for women and men involved in sex work – a profession vulnerable to HIV.
The Youth Force for AIDS 2018 is looking for young people and youth organisations. Nadiia Dubchak, from Kyiv, Ukraine, is the co-chair of the Youth Force of AIDS 2018 Conference, and she is representing Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Meanwhile, Nadiia is looking for active people between the ages of 15 – 26 to help found and lead the Amsterdam Youth Force. AFEW International is supporting this initiative.
The 22nd International AIDS Conference that will take place in Amsterdam, the Netherlands on 23-27 July, 2018, announces its scientific tracks and conference objectives. The registration for the conference opens on December 1, 2017. More information about abstracts and submissions will be available in the coming months.
The initiative started in May 2017 on the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial with a mini-football blitz tournament in Almaty. The members of the team were not professional sportsmen and muscular men, but delicate and the most beautiful girls in the country – the finalists of the beauty contests, popular singers and journalists. However, girls’ mentors were real football professionals, including sportsman-composer Abdulkarim Karimov and renowned players Zharko Markovich and Bauyrzhan Turysbek from Kayrat team.
Hepatitis Prevention Month to commemorate the World Hepatitis Day was organised for the first time in the history of Kyrgyzstan by the Ministry of Health in July this year. Over the recent years, the list of registered and allowed for import medications to treat hepatitis C has been expanded, the new clinical treatment protocol has been approved and a six-year target program to counteract viral hepatitis was adopted. In our interview with Nurgul Ibraeva, Chief Officer of the Department of Health Services and Medications Policy of the Kyrgyz Ministry of Health, we discussed the reasons for the increased attention to the problem of hepatitis in Kyrgyzstan.
“Kyianka+” group, operating with support from ICF “AIDS Foundation East-West” (AFEW-Ukraine), was created three years ago, and has already helped more than 150 women. Women living with HIV attend monthly meetings, participate in master classes and get psychological counselling. Members of self-help group conduct regular meetings to exchange positive emotions, share success stories and learn how to resist psychological abuse.
AFEW International is looking for an organisation or individuals to produce a series of materials on knowledge and skills required for successful preparation for AIDS 2018, including but not limited to creating conference profile system, abstract development, scholarship applications submission, applying for workshops, taking part in the Global Village and Youth Program etc.
Success with harm reduction has recently been achieved in Tajikistan. HIV epidemic amongst injecting drug users also seems to stabilize and even decline. Unfortunately, HIV is still increasing as now it also enters wider community around people who use drugs (PUD) and other key populations. Sexual transmission of HIV is rising, and women is the most vulnerable group in this new wave of HIV infections. Besides, in Tajikistan there are other health related issues with tuberculosis, hepatitis and sexual and reproductive health. These are the observations of AFEW International’s director of the programs Janine Wildschut who visited Tajikistan last week to monitor the work of ‘Bridging the Gaps: health and rights for key popualtions’ programme.
