HIV Reduction among Women Who Inject Drugs Can Be Achieved Through Women-Specific Programs and Global Targets: A Model from Ukraine

The International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine (Alliance) is one of the largest harm reduction programs in the world, and it has been working toward increased coverage of women who inject drugs. In 2009, Alliance supported harm reduction interventions for 150,815 PWID annually (about half the total estimated 2009 PWID population in Ukraine).^3,4 In 2009, Alliance set targets for reaching 60% of PWID and specifically of women who inject drugs. Alliance has used various measures to increase service availability and access for women, who inject drugs throughout Ukraine, including the following: 

• Extension of the minimal harm reduction package of services (which initially included needle and condom distribution, education and counseling, and rapid testing for HIV) to include screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections through rapid tests for syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia, pregnancy test distribution, and distribution of disinfectants to those involved into sex work. For hardest-to-reach populations, mobile clinics have been procured and equipped with gynecological chairs to allow examination and rapid testing 
• Peer-driven intervention (PDI), a chain-referral model, which includes education and recruitment through outreach. PDI gives PWID per-task nominal rewards to perform the core activities that outreach employees perform—at less expense and greater effectiveness. Alliance Ukraine specifically targeted women who inject drugs as priority group for the PDI intervention to increase coverage of women who inject drugs⁵ 
• Providing economic opportunities for women. Women who used drugs were provided with training and employment opportunities, such as beauty courses, opening of hairdressing practices, etc.
• Introduction of gender-sensitive approaches, such as women-focused outreach and counseling (which considered sex and gender aspects of addiction), structured training activities (educational sessions specifically for women who inject drugs), short-term childcare provided by social workers, case-management (designated time slots for women who inject drugs, group meetings for volunteers from among women who inject drugs and women drug users, counseling by specialists including gynecologists and lawyers), and gender-sensitive organizational policies.⁶

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/lJh3L7

By:   Deshko, Tetiana PhD

International Technical Support Hub, International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine.

Correspondence to: Tetiana Deshko, PhD, 5 Dymytrova st., building 10A 9th floor, 03680, Kyiv, Ukraine. Tel.: +380 50 387 16 14 (e-mail: deshko@aidsalliance.org.ua).

More at:  https://twitter.com/hiv insight

And: http://twitter.com/Prison Health