Project title

To improve accessibility of harm reduction services in Kėdainiai region and improve acceptability of those services in the community.

Objectives:

1. To activate needle / syringe exchange, distribution of disinfectants and prevention commodities services through the outreach workers and IDUs who are in pharmacotherapy treatment in the higher risk places.
2. To provide harm reduction services for individuals who are in Kėdainiai Police arrest house.
3. To implement harm reduction advocacy during the meetings with representatives from law enforcement institutions and municipality, politicians.

During the first phase of project implementation the main focus was on one strategic area - to activate provision of low-threshold services in the region: needled and syringe exchange, distribution of disinfectants and condoms, health education, counselling, HIV and other infectious disease counselling, pre and post HIV test counselling. As it was planned project personnel focused more on expansion of mobile outreach services in the gathering and/or living places of target group, aiming to make as much new contacts with.

Aiming to activate needle and syringe exchange, distribution of disinfectants and prevention commodities through the outreach workers an in higher risk areas:

• Personnel visited higher risk areas in terms of drug use in Kėdainiai region (7 places in total, according to the police data).
• Looking for possibilities to involve IDUs to low threshold service provision, VšĮ Kėdainiai PSPC personnel providing outreach services met with the pharmacotherapy programme participants to discuss the needs of Kėdainiai region IDUs, epidemiological situation and prevention of infectious diseases. Some of the pharmacotherapy patients agreed to mediate keeping in touch with lo-threshold cabinet service clients.
• Personnel exchanged needles and syringes, distributed disinfectants, condoms, etc., performed HIV tests in gathering places.
• IDUs and their close ones were informed about provided low-threshold services and dependence treatment possibilities (discussions, leaflets).
• Developed a map on risky places in terms on drug use in Kėdainiai, which was presented to the partners and other interested parties.

Aiming to provide low-threshold services for the individuals in Kėdainiai Police arrest house, social worker met with the responsible Police office and discussed further successful dialog aspects: how to organize HIV and other test performing for the individuals in the arrest houses, and pharmacotherapy provision for individuals upon request. During the organized campaign rapid HIV tests were performed for 6 arrestees and 2 police officers. No positive HIV cases were detected.

Aiming to implement harm reduction advocacy measures, meetings with representatives from law enforcement institutions and municipalities were organized, in total 30 individuals participated. Meetings were attended by Kėdainiai region Municipality board members, HIV prevention, social work specialists and doctors who discussed on quality and effectiveness of low-threshold cabinets, results and discussed arising problems.

• Number of regular clients - 6.
• Number of new clients - 14.
• Number of distributed syringes - 461.
• Number of distributed syringes per person per month -23.
• Number of performed HIV tests - 41.
• Number of positive HIV tests - 2.
• Number of outreach workers - 2.
• Number of persons in secondary exchange - 2.

UNODC budget