Sustainability of Services for Key Populations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Project: multi-country project “Sustainability of Services for Key Populations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia” (#SoS_project)

Implementation period: 2019-2021

Geographical scope: Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan

Donor: The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria  

The implementation of the three-year project is coordinated by the Alliance for Public Health, in a consortium with the 100% Life (All-Ukrainian Network of PLWH), the Central Asian HIV’ Association and the Eurasian Key Populations Health Network, with the participation of national governmental and non-governmental organizations, regional key populations networks , international agencies and organizations, as well as technical partners.

Key focus of the project are 14 countries and 23 cities in the EECA region with the highest prevalence of HIV infection.

Goals:

1. Improving financial sustainability and effectiveness of HIV programs
2. Reducing existing legal barriers and respecting the most important human rights for access to HIV prevention services and care
3. Improving the efficiency and accessibility of HIV services delivery models (testing and continuous care) for key populations

Project activities:

• developing strategies for optimizing the cost of ART regimens that will reduce the average cost of first-line ART;
• development/updating of the functional mechanisms of public procurement of services for the prevention and care and support services from NGOs;
• the creation and functioning of working groups/urban coordination councils on HIV/AIDS issues for the implementation of an action plan for HIV/AIDS;
• introducing new strategies for detecting HIV cases and starting antiretroviral therapy for key populations;
• implementation of the urban HIV/AIDS program to fill gaps in the current municipal response;
  developing and conducting operational research to improve coverage of key groups and the treatment cascade;
• launching a monitoring system for the cascade of HIV treatment at the city level;
• provision of legal assistance in cases of violation of the rights of key groups;
• establishment of a Regional Commission on Drug Policy in the EECA region.

As a result of the project, by 2021, national funding for HIV/AIDS programs will be increased by $10 million from national, regional and municipal budgets in the countries of the EECA region. It is also planned to ensure $73.4 million savings in the countries budgets through optimised ARV procurement.

The project is implemented with the participation of national governmental and non-governmental organizations, regional key populations networks , international agencies and organizations, as well as technical partners.