HIV prevention and care among vulnerable groups

UNODC project "Effective HIV prevention and care among vulnerable groups in Central Asia and Eastern Europe" funded by US government through CDC/PEPFAR, USAID and OFID/OPEC conducted national seminar on WHO/UNODC/UNAIDS comprehensive service package for intravenous drug users  and standards development  in January 2013 in Bostanlyk district, Tashkent oblast.  Twenty five managers and specialists of medical and social protection services took part in the workshop including representatives of Republican AIDS Center, DOTS Center and National Centers of Dermatology, Obstetrics, medical institutes as well as representatives of ministries of health, education, Special Secondary and Higher Education, Ministry of Interior and local NGOs.

The workshop aims at discussing international and national standards of health service delivery for PWUD and reviewing compliance of the national standards (guidelines and protocols) with the international norms as well as modernization of national protocols in Uzbekistan.

Dr. Alisher Abidov, Director of Republican Dermatology and Venereology Center noted: "The seminar promoted even better coordination between services working on HIV prevention, treatment and care among drug users and permitted to define priorities in national standards development".

According to Dr. Shalpan Primbetova, a guest-speaker and Director of Operations in Global Health Research Center of Central Asia (Kazakhstan): "The seminar atmosphere was special to share and learn".

The seminar was a follow-up of regional workshop "Standardization of HIV-related service delivery for people who use drugs (PWUD)" conducted in Almaty in December as well as national seminar on comprehensive service package for IDUs and integrated service model development held in August 2012.  A Working Group which was set up during the seminar is going to continue discussion on coordination and integration of HIV prevention and care for the most-at-risk groups of population including drug users in Uzbekistan.