HIV/AIDS PREVENTION AMONG INJECTING DRUG USERS
IN KARACHI

The present pilot project aims to fill the information gap related to injecting drug abuse in Pakistan, with special focus on the specific nature of the adverse health and social consequences of drug injecting behavior in the mega-city of Karachi. There are presently no official reliable reports on drug related deaths or drug related HIV/AIDS cases. But given the huge number of drug addicts in the country, a shift to intravenous injection bears the potential of an epidemic of blood borne diseases. Within a recently formulated Strategic National Framework injecting drug users have been highlighted as one group particularly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Within this context, the project will provide baseline data and, in addition, design and implement effective interventions, which will help to minimize the adverse health and social consequences of injecting drug use, with emphasis on the prevention of the transmission of HIV and other blood borne infections.

OBJECTIVES

• To improve the understanding of the injecting drug use situation in Karachi and of the relationship between injecting drug use and HIV infection
  
  * Rapid situation assessment, including assessment of existing data, mapping, interviews with key informants and focus group discussions, including with drug users.
  
  

• To establish a Regional Drugs and HIV/AIDS Task Force for policy and programme guidance
  
  * UNODC and UNAIDS experts as well as local stakeholders from the Provincial AIDS Programme, the Anti-Narcotics Force Regional Office, drug treatment experts, NGO experts and blood bank professionals form a Regional Drugs and HIV/AIDS Task Force.
  
  

• To increase the capacity of NGOs to undertake effective interventions
  
  * Identification of 2 NGOs working in drug treatment/rehabilitation with potential to implement initiatives designed to reduce the adverse health and social consequences of drug injecting,
  * Training of NGO partners,
  * Study visit of NGO partners and Taskforce to the Lahore pilot project and active participation in project activities for training purposes.
  
  

• To undertake HIV/AIDS prevention interventions through drop-in centres
  
  * Establishment of 2 drop-in centres to deliver the following services:
    - peer education/outreach
    - needle and syringe exchange
    - condom promotion and distribution
    - provision of basic primary health care and referral as necessary for drug treatment 
    - data collection for assessment of impact/effectiveness
  * Awareness raising and advocacy among additional local NGOs to increase NGO prevention activities
  * Local information campaign on HIV/AIDS prevention needs of IDUs addressing local stakeholders.