How can communities keep TB services running when funding shrinks and war disrupts care? And how do we prepare for the new TB vaccines that are coming?

In Ukraine, war hides TB behind damaged villages, displacement and broken health services. Our teams go out and find it. From 17 to 20 November, the Alliance for Public Health brings this frontline experience to the Union World Conference on Lung Health in Rio de Janeiro, in the scientific programme and in the Community Connect space.

Helping shape the conference

This year, APH is not only taking part in the conference but also helping shape it. Zahedul Islam, Director of Treatment, Procurement and Supply Management at APH, serves on the Conference Scientific Committee, which builds the conference programme. In Rio, he will chair four sessions on the questions that matter most for communities right now: how to keep TB services running when funding is cut, how communities monitor the quality of care, what happens to people after TB, and how to make sure new TB vaccines reach those who need them.

Where to find APH at the conference

All times are local to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (GMT−3)

Tuesday, 17 November
15:00–15:45 · CCC05 · “Beyond the Cuts: Community Leadership in a Changing Funding Landscape”, chaired by Zahedul Islam (Oceania II)

Wednesday, 18 November
12:15–13:15 · MTE02 · “Sustaining a rigorous community-led monitoring model for TB under funding constraints”, chaired by Zahedul Islam (Capri IV)
14:15–15:45 · OA18 · “Transforming TB detection through community action”, chaired by Evgenia Geliukh (Segovia I/II)
17:00–18:00 · CCS02 · “Life after TB: Connecting communities to post-TB care”, chaired by Zahedul Islam (Oceania X)

Thursday, 19 November
11:00–11:45 · CCL04 · Community Connect Live: Vlada Rabinova presents “A postcard to the future: Getting communities ready for a new TB vaccine” (Oceania II)
17:01–17:15 · Zahedul Islam presents “Enhancing the TB care cascade via peer-led health mediation among the Roma minority in crisis-affected Ukraine” (Americas II)

Friday, 20 November
15:00–15:45 · CCS18 · “From science to access: Mobilising communities for new TB vaccines”, chaired by Zahedul Islam (Oceania X). Within the session, Evgenia Geliukh speaks on “Learning from other diseases: How communities shaped access to new medicines” (15:02–15:09).

We invite conference participants to join our sessions, visit the booth and discuss collaboration.

Download the APH roadmap.

Visit our booth in Community Connect

At our booth, “War Hides TB. We Find It: Ukraine’s Frontline Experience” (booth number CC2208), the APH team will share how TB can be found and treated even during war. Among displaced people, 21 times more TB cases were found than in 2021, not because TB is growing, but because we look for it, and 100% of them started treatment.

Tomorrow’s TB vaccines need today’s roads. At the booth, we will present the roads APH has built in Ukraine:

1. Frontline mobile clinics. Mobile teams bring TB screening and care to communities near the front line and to displaced people, where health facilities are damaged or hard to reach. The teams provide consultations, diagnostics and treatment for HIV, TB and other diseases, often in villages where they are the only health care left. At the booth, visitors can watch the story of Dmytro Korobenko, who coordinates APH’s mobile clinic teams, and Dr Yulia Tatianchenko, a physician on the team, featured by the Global Fund. Watch their story

2. Community care networks. Community organisations and peer workers help people get tested, start treatment and stay on it until they are cured. At the booth, visitors can pick up our publications and materials on this work.

3. AI screening and digital support. AI-supported screening helps find TB faster.
TWIIN, APH’s AI-powered digital social worker, helps people learn about HIV and TB, find testing and services, and get support online. TWIIN now also explains, in plain language, the new TB vaccines in development: how their safety is tested, what a Phase III trial means and when they might become available.

Before the conference, we asked our community what they want to know about TB and new vaccines but have not yet found a clear answer to, and what information, and from whom, would help them form their own opinion about a new TB vaccine. The answers help us see which explanations are missing and improve TWIIN together with the people who use it. Evgenia Geliukh will present the results in her talk on 20 November.

At the booth, visitors can add their own answer on a puzzle piece: what would you like to know about TB and new vaccines? Piece by piece, the answers will come together on our booth wall. Try TWIIN at twiin.aph.org.ua or download TWIIN APP. In 2026, the TWIIN website reached about 570,000 users, and around 90,000 people used its chat.

4. Funding that keeps these roads open. None of this works without reliable funding. The Global Fund provides 80% of all international financing for TB, and in 2025, 7.4 million people were treated for TB in countries where it invests. That is why APH also advocates for sustained Global Fund financing.

At the booth, we will present Together We Save Lives – The Global Fund: From Financial Contributions to Impact, a joint campaign by the Global Fund Advocates Network (GFAN), the Alliance for Public Health and Action against AIDS Germany (Aktionsbündnis gegen AIDS). The campaign was launched in Rio de Janeiro in July, at AIDS 2026. Now we are back in Rio, where the global TB community, partners and donors meet, to carry the campaign’s call to donor governments: deliver Global Fund commitments in full and on time. Because promises matter, but delivery saves lives.

Community advocates from around the world speak to political leaders about what global solidarity means, what political leadership looks like, and what it takes to keep lifesaving programmes stable. The third and final campaign video premieres on World AIDS Day, 1 December. Learn more about the campaign

Partner with us: come and talk to us about building the roads that bring TB care, and tomorrow’s vaccines, closer to the people who need them.

Want to go deeper? Explore our latest publications:

•  Fighting Tuberculosis in Wartime: Resilience and Results That Save Lives (PDF)
• Case study collection “Innovating Under Fire” (PDF)

On 16 November 2026, the Alliance for Public Health will host an online consultation on medication approaches to care for people who use stimulants and opportunities to develop relevant services in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

The event will bring together clinical and research experience from Ukraine, Czechia, the United States and Australia. We will discuss what is already being delivered in practice, which approaches are being researched and what is needed to expand access to care in our region.

The programme will cover:

• International evidence and recommendations.
• Results from the Ukrainian pilot of ADHD treatment with methylphenidate among people who use stimulants.
• SANANIM’s experience in Czechia: delivering medication-based treatment through a low-threshold NGO service and experience with methylphenidate and dexamphetamine.
• New evidence from clinical trials on the treatment of stimulant use disorders.
• Australian experience of care for people with ADHD and substance use disorders, including the use of lisdexamfetamine.
• A regional discussion on needs, barriers and possible next steps.

Speakers: Marica Ferri (EUDA, ScaleUp Initiative), Anton Basenko (INPUD), Maria Malakhova and Oleg Orlov (APH, Ukraine), Pavel Bém (presenting SANANIM’s experience, Czechia), Dr Nico Clark (Australia), and Prof. Frederick L. Altice (Yale University, USA).

Moderated by: Tetiana Deshko (APH, Ukraine).

We invite clinicians, researchers, community and civil society representatives, service organisers and colleagues involved in health policymaking to join.

Together, we will discuss what we can do now, what requires joint planning and which changes need technical, research or financial support.

Date: 16 November 2026

Time: 13:00–15:00 Kyiv time (UTC+2)

Format: online, Zoom

Duration: 2 hours

Languages: English and Russian, with simultaneous interpretation

⇒ Register for the consultation

⇓ Programme

On 19–23 October 2026, the International Charitable Foundation Alliance for Public Health (APH), with support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), held a five-day practical training course in nanopore sequencing using Oxford Nanopore Technologies in a mobile laboratory. The training took place with the participation of the L. V. Gromashevsky Institute of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine and Kharkiv National Medical University.

The course equipped Ukrainian specialists with practical skills in a method that, until recently, had been available only in major reference laboratories: identifying pathogens associated with wound infections and antibiotic resistance genes directly from clinical samples, without relying on a permanent laboratory facility.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most serious threats to the treatment of wound infections, and war is making it worse. Large numbers of traumatic injuries, prolonged evacuation times and transfers between healthcare facilities contribute to the spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria. European hospitals treating Ukrainian patients are detecting the same strains, making AMR in Ukraine a shared health security concern across the continent. Conventional bacteriological diagnosis requires several days of culture, while sequencing can reveal both the pathogens present in a wound and the resistance genes they carry.

Pavlo Smyrnov, Deputy Executive Director of the Alliance for Public Health, said: “APH has long worked where health systems are most vulnerable. For us, it is essential that Ukrainian teams retain the capacity to generate scientific evidence for epidemiological surveillance – and that they can do so in the conditions they face every day.”

From Swab to Result
The programme covered the full workflow: preparing wound samples, extracting DNA, sequencing and conducting bioinformatic analysis on a laptop. Participants learned to identify pathogens using the 16S rRNA gene, type hospital-associated pathogens and detect genes encoding carbapenemases – enzymes that break down last-resort antibiotics.
Practical sessions also addressed contamination prevention, biosafety in mobile settings, patient data protection and accurate interpretation of results. The training was research-focused: detecting a resistance gene alone does not establish which antibiotic will be effective, and the results are not intended to guide treatment decisions.

Experience in Outbreak Response

The course was led by Dr Luke Meredith of Deploy Laboratory Solutions, Dublin, Ireland, a specialist in field sequencing and mobile laboratory deployment. In 2015, he took part in the Ebola outbreak response in Sierra Leone, where he led an on-site sequencing service. He also worked as a research associate in the Department of Pathology at the University of Cambridge and co-authored a study tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants in Ukraine in 2021 using nanopore sequencing, and served as the lead consultant on development of genomic surveillance strategies for the Eastern Mediterranean region for WHO.

Dr Luke Meredith said: “Our experience in outbreak responses and capacity development in Sierra Leone and across Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean over the past decade has shown that the closer we can bring laboratory capabilities to where they are needed, the sooner we can understand what we are dealing with. The Ukrainian team is working under some of the most challenging conditions imaginable, and over these five days they have demonstrated their ability to carry out the complete genomic analysis workflow in a mobile laboratory. This provides a strong foundation for them to further develop, adapt and independently apply these techniques to Ukraine’s research and public health needs, both in established laboratories and in the field.”

A First Step
Practical capacity at this level cannot be built in five days. It grows through individual skills, established protocols and experience gained with each study. This capacity, rather than any single device, determines how quickly a health system can respond to an emerging epidemiological threat.

By putting these methods into practice, Ukrainian laboratories can contribute directly to the global evidence base on the spread of resistant pathogens. APH will continue this work alongside Ukrainian scientific, academic and research institutions.

The Alliance for Public Health is announcing a call for external (outsourcing) consultants to join a unified pool for digital health projects in 2026–2027.

We are looking for experts in the following areas:

• Software development, AI agents and LLM solutions, mobile frontend, backend, and data science
• Healthcare and public health
• Project coordination, organization and coordination of events & stakeholder engagement
• Communications, marketing, and PR for digital solutions
• Content development, text editing, and knowledge base management
• Analytical, research work and data science
• UI/UX and product design for mobile applications
• Photo and video production

Applicants can apply for all areas or specific tasks based on their expertise. Previous experience in similar projects or past phases of our initiatives will be an advantage.

Successful candidates will be added to a consultant pool. This does not guarantee immediate deployment, as assignments will be allocated based on specific Terms of Reference (ToR) for each task.

Send your application to malakhova@aph.org.ua with the subject line: “DH Experts Pool Application”

Application deadline: 11.11.2026

More details about the Alliance’s work can be found at www.aph.org.ua.

Read more: Announcement_DH_Experts_Pool_Repeated

How can artificial intelligence help people access healthcare when war, displacement and disrupted services make it harder to reach them?

At AidEx Geneva, an international humanitarian aid and development event, Dr Tetiana Deshko, Director of International Programs at the Alliance for Public Health, will share APH’s experience of applying AI in public health programmes and explore what these approaches can offer humanitarian responses.

Examples include TWIIN, an AI-powered digital assistant that helps people access health information and navigate available services, and AI-supported HIV testing prioritisation, which uses programme data from DHIS2 to help outreach teams identify whom to prioritise for testing.

These approaches address practical challenges: helping people take the next step towards care and supporting outreach workers in deciding where to focus their efforts. For humanitarian programmes, they also raise questions about accessibility, data protection and how technology can support the work of local teams.

“When people flee, their health needs travel with them. AI lets services follow. Chatbots and telemedicine connected tens of thousands of displaced Ukrainians to care, and our virtual outreach worker Twiin now gives more than 70,000 people free consultations 24/7. That’s not the future of humanitarian work. It’s the present, and we need to scale it,” says Dr Tetiana Deshko.
Join us for “Can AI be a Game Changer for Health Programmes in Humanitarian Settings?”

The discussion will explore the opportunities and limitations of AI, including what is needed to ensure that its use reflects the needs of affected communities and strengthens health services in crisis settings.

21 October 2026 | 15:00–16:00
Workshop Room 1 | AidEx Geneva

Speakers:
• Awa Babington-Ashaye, Digital Health Advisor, Geneva Digital Health Hub
• Wahid Majrooh, Former Minister of Public Health of Afghanistan
• Gwydion Williams, Deputy Director, AI, PATH
• Erika Placella, Head of Health and Food, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
• David Sasu, SwissAI Post-doctoral Research Fellow, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
• Tetiana Deshko, Director of International Programs, Alliance for Public Health

How do you keep healthcare within reach when war disrupts services and forces people to leave their homes?

At AidEx Geneva, an international humanitarian aid and development event, Dr Andriy Klepikov, Executive Director of the Alliance for Public Health (APH), will share how APH and its local partners are responding to this challenge in Ukraine.

Our experience spans mobile clinics reaching frontline communities, telemedicine and digital support, and community-led initiatives addressing urgent humanitarian needs – while keeping HIV, TB and harm reduction services running.

“When russia launched its full-scale invasion, we didn’t start from zero. More than 25 years of fighting HIV had given us something no emergency fund can buy overnight: the trust of communities others struggle to reach. We turned that trust into a lifeline, helping more than 2.2 million people and delivering over 2,000 tonnes of humanitarian supplies across Ukraine, while keeping HIV, TB and harm reduction services running through the war. Ukraine shows that HIV programmes combined with timely preparedness measures can be the backbone of the response. Our message to AidEx is clear: break down the silos between HIV and humanitarian work, and we can reach more people, faster,” says Dr Andriy Klepikov.

Join us for “Enhancing Locally Led Response by Breaking Down Siloes Between the HIV and Humanitarian Sectors.”

Together with Frontline AIDS, SIDC and Christian Aid, we will explore lessons from Ukraine and Lebanon and discuss how the two sectors can work more closely to sustain essential services, strengthen local leadership and reach marginalised communities during emergencies.

22 October 2026 | 15:00–16:00
Workshop Room 1 | AidEx Geneva

Speakers:
• Andriy Klepikov, Executive Director, Alliance for Public Health, Ukraine
• Nadia Badran, Executive Director, SIDC, Lebanon
• Michael Mosselmans, Head of the Humanitarian Division, Christian Aid

Moderator: Kimberly Crunkleton, Lead on HIV in Crisis, Frontline AIDS

If you are attending AidEx, join the conversation and meet our team.

On the final day of INHSU 2026 in Prague, Alliance for Public Health’s Maria Malakhova presented Ukraine’s experience of integrating adult ADHD treatment into services for people who use stimulants. Six-month follow-up data from 41 participants showed lower stimulant-related risk scores, reduced craving and improvements in several areas of quality of life.

For some people who use stimulants, difficulties with attention, restlessness and daily routines may be signs of undiagnosed attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These needs can remain unrecognised when services focus only on substance use.
Addressing this gap was the starting point for APH’s pilot. Speaking in the “Integrated Health Responses” session on 9 October, Maria Malakhova, Project Manager for Implementation Science and Digital Health Innovations at APH, presented “Integrating ADHD treatment into stimulant use services in Ukraine: a multi-site operational model of care”.

Care built around people’s needs

APH launched the programme in 2024. Adults with suspected ADHD who use stimulants are referred through trusted community partners, including DrugStore, VOLNA and other organisations working with people who use drugs. Psychiatrists confirm the diagnosis and assess substance use before starting supervised treatment with methylphenidate. Doses are adjusted individually, with regular follow-up and take-home doses when clinically appropriate.

Kyiv service records showed ages ranging from 18 to 58, with a median recorded age of 28 and an almost equal distribution of female and male records. These figures describe the wider service register, which includes repeat admissions, rather than the demographic profile of the 41 participants in the six-month analysis.

According to the programme figures presented by Malakhova, more than 200 people had started ADHD treatment at some point, and 74 were receiving treatment at the time of the conference.

Alongside this work, APH has developed other mental health services. Its ketamine-assisted therapy programme for treatment-resistant depression has reached more than 100 people. APH has also trained 151 mental health professionals in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for stimulant use and ADHD. Through its collaboration with INRE, a CBT centre with expertise in adult ADHD, optional online CBT is available to participants in both the ADHD and depression treatment programmes.

APH is also preparing to launch a pilot study of ketamine-based treatment for stimulant dependence. This is a separate initiative from its existing ketamine-assisted therapy programme for depression.

What changed after six months

The prospective observational evaluation compared baseline and six-month assessments for 41 participants. Scores measuring amphetamine-related problems and craving fell substantially.

The mean amphetamine-type stimulant score on the adapted Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) fell from 9.59 to 2.94. The mean craving score, reflecting the reported frequency of a strong urge to use amphetamines, fell from 2.73 to 0.85. Both changes remained statistically significant after adjustment for multiple testing (adjusted p < 0.001).
No substance category showed a statistically significant increase in its ASSIST score. Quality of life, measured using WHOQOL-BREF, improved significantly in three domains: physical health, psychological health and environment. The change in the social relationships domain was not statistically significant.

These findings have important limits. This was an observational evaluation without a comparison group, so the changes cannot be attributed to methylphenidate alone. Baseline substance-use questions covered the previous three months, while follow-up questions covered the previous month; this difference also needs to be considered when interpreting the results. The findings describe participants who completed both assessments and do not establish outcomes for everyone who entered care.

Alongside the measured outcomes, she described changes in participants’ everyday lives.

Individual client accounts described reduced craving, improved well-being and a return to work. Malakhova also described participants rebuilding relationships with family members. These experiences illustrate what change can mean in everyday life, rather than representing outcomes for all participants.

War also affects continuity of care. Service records described interruptions associated with relocation and military redeployment, alongside missed visits, loss of contact and health difficulties. These descriptive records highlight the need for flexible access and active follow-up; they do not provide a formal retention rate.

A gap beyond the pilot

The presentation also highlighted a broader problem: limited access to ADHD diagnosis and treatment for adults in Ukraine.
Drawing on international research estimating persistent adult ADHD at about 2.6%, Malakhova presented a broad extrapolation of roughly 650,000 to one million adults potentially living with ADHD in Ukraine. This illustrates possible unmet need rather than a measured Ukrainian prevalence. In contrast, an administrative eHealth extract available to the team recorded 625 adults with an F90.0 diagnosis as of December 2024. It also listed 831 methylphenidate electronic prescriptions issued and 525 redeemed across children and adults. These are prescription counts, not numbers of individual patients, and recorded diagnoses do not capture everyone living with ADHD.

Contact with the community of adults living with ADHD helped APH identify barriers beyond stimulant-use services. Malakhova described limited and inconsistent pharmacy availability of methylphenidate, as well as gaps in clinicians’ knowledge and capacity to diagnose and treat adult ADHD. APH is seeking support for ADHD advocacy and access to treatment, alongside capacity building for doctors.

For people who use drugs, access can be more difficult still. Asked by a delegate whether participants must stop using drugs before receiving treatment, Malakhova explained that APH does not make abstinence a condition of care. The programme supports people to reduce or stop their use while addressing their ADHD treatment needs.

Sustaining care and building the evidence

The programme initially operated at seven sites in six cities. At the time of the conference, treatment continued at one site in Kyiv, while requests for support were still arriving from other cities.

The original pilot received Global Fund support through the regional SoS Project 2.0. The ongoing programme receives support from Sida through a partnership with Frontline AIDS. A proposal to include this care in the national grant was not prioritised, leaving sustained financing as a barrier to maintaining and expanding access.

APH is seeking partners and funding to sustain services for people who use stimulants, expand access to ADHD care and strengthen clinical capacity. The team is completing additional analyses and preparing a report, journal paper and public webinar, while seeking opportunities for controlled evaluation.

Further work is also needed to understand whether improvements persist after treatment stops, including among people who discontinue early or pause and restart care.

For APH, the next step is to keep care available while building stronger evidence about what works. Malakhova invited collaboration to sustain stimulant-use services, expand ADHD care and support the ketamine study. “We really hope for some collaboration, support, funding and whatnot to help us move this forward,” she said.

On the opening morning of INHSU 2026’s main programme, Alliance for Public Health’s Dr Tetiana Deshko delivered a plenary presentation connecting the audience in Prague with colleagues working in Ukraine. She shared how services have adapted through war and how that experience is informing care in other countries.

As Dr Deshko spoke on the plenary stage at INHSU 2026 in Prague, an Alliance for Public Health mobile team was delivering services in Ukraine. A live connection brought the audience to Cherkasy region, where a colleague stood beside a mobile clinic and showed how the team provides HIV testing in the PWID community.

The connection made the subject of Tetiana’s presentation immediate. The work she was describing was continuing as delegates watched.

In her plenary presentation on 7 October, APH’s Director of International Programs explored how harm reduction and infectious disease services adapt to war and displacement, and how experience from Ukraine is informing programmes in other countries. Her presentation, “Adapting Harm Reduction and Infectious Disease Models of Care in Conflict Settings”, brought together evidence, practical solutions and the voices of people working through the crisis.

Adapting services as people’s lives change

One image showed the scale of the challenge: a warehouse destroyed by a russian missile attack in July 2026. It held around 30 million syringes intended for Ukraine’s harm reduction programmes in 2027. Another showed a damaged mobile clinic.

These attacks threaten the supplies and infrastructure on which services depend. Displacement creates further challenges, separating people from their doctors, treatment sites and support networks.

“We were expecting the worst to happen in the face of HIV and hepatitis C epidemics in Ukraine as war broke out,”  Dr Deshko told the conference. “But it did not.”

She described how teams adapted services to keep people connected to care: mobile clinics reached communities with limited access, take-home medication helped people continue opioid agonist treatment, and coordination between providers supported those forced to move.

“War made us adapt and change,” Dr Deshko said.

Some services expanded even as the war forced others to close. Figures presented by Tetiana Deshko showed that Ukraine’s public opioid agonist treatment sites increased and were supporting more than 20,000 patients by the end of 2025. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, more sites had opened.

These approaches build on APH’s more than 25 years of public health experience and its relationships with community organisations and healthcare providers. During the war, APH and its partners have provided critical support to 2.2 million people across Ukraine.

Making innovation useful in everyday life

The presentation showed how new approaches can address immediate barriers to care.

Long-acting treatment can reduce the need for frequent visits when travel is difficult or unsafe. Online consultations and postal delivery help maintain access when people move. Integrating mental health support into trusted community services can reach people who face barriers elsewhere.

APH’s TWIIN digital assistant offers health information and helps people find services around the clock. Dr Deshko described its relevance to someone in a bomb shelter or travelling to another location when a doctor is unavailable.

The same attention to people’s circumstances shapes APH’s work with young people. Through accessible information, online outreach and harm reduction support, programmes maintain contact with communities whose needs are changing during the war.

“These are the groups who will be rebuilding our country when the war is over,” Dr Deshko said.

She also recognised the work of Club Eney, a women-led community organisation supporting women who have experienced conflict-related sexual violence. Tetiana described how sustained contact and psychosocial support help women access care and regain dignity, showing why responses during war must address trauma alongside HIV, hepatitis and drug use.

Experience that travels beyond Ukraine

The presentation demonstrated APH’s role as an international public health organisation rooted in Ukraine.

Ukrainian specialists have shared experience of long-acting buprenorphine treatment with colleagues in Kyrgyzstan and Egypt, supporting the adaptation of services to local needs. APH’s work on community-based hepatitis C care includes training colleagues from Egypt, Kyrgyzstan and Nigeria, with continued clinical mentoring for teams in Kyrgyzstan and Nigeria.

This collaboration takes learning from Ukraine into service delivery and research in other countries. Dr Deshko also acknowledged the experience of Czech colleagues that helped inform APH’s pilot integrating ADHD treatment into services for people who use stimulants.

The presentation placed these examples alongside experiences from other conflict settings, including Manipur in India and Myanmar. Across different contexts, it highlighted the importance of flexible services, trusted community networks and care that can follow people when their circumstances change.

A message from a colleague who could not be in the room

Towards the end of her presentation, Dr Deshko introduced Oleg Dymaretsky, a leader of the Ukrainian Network of People Who Use Drugs (VOLNA). He could not join the conference in Prague. A serving member of Ukraine’s armed forces, he addressed delegates in a recorded message.

His appeal was for productive work, lasting solutions and meaningful commitments to support people. The audience responded with applause, with some delegates standing.

Dymaretsky’s message brought another dimension of community leadership into the room. People who use drugs help shape services, organise support and represent their communities. Some, like Dymaretsky, are also serving in Ukraine’s armed forces. Their experience and leadership must remain part of the international conversation about health during war.

APH and its partners are continuing these conversations throughout INHSU 2026, with contributions on responses to conflict and displacement, community-based hepatitis C care, long-acting treatment and the integration of mental health support into harm reduction services.

APH welcomes opportunities to work with communities, researchers, healthcare providers and international partners to adapt these approaches, strengthen the evidence behind them and bring essential services to more people.

How can essential health services continue during war, displacement and political pressure? How can hepatitis care, mental health support and harm reduction better respond to people’s needs? Alliance for Public Health (APH) and partners from Eastern Europe and Central Asia will share their experience of addressing these questions at INHSU 2026 in Prague.

The 14th International Conference on Health and Hepatitis in Substance Users takes place on 6–9 October, bringing together researchers, healthcare professionals, community representatives, policymakers and advocates. Following the pre-conference activities on 6 October, the main scientific programme opens on 7 October.

Maintaining care during conflict and displacement

On 7 October, 10:05–10:25, Tetiana Deshko, Director of International Programs at APH, will deliver a plenary presentation, “Adapting Harm Reduction and Infectious Disease Models of Care in Conflict Settings.”

Her presentation will focus on how harm reduction and infectious disease services can adapt to war, displacement and disruption of health systems, drawing on experience from Ukraine and the wider region.

Later that day, 13:45–15:15, Anna Meteliuk, Project Manager: Research at APH, will co-chair “Adapting Under Pressure: Harm Reduction Responses When Faced with Conflict, Repression, and Displacement” with Ernst Wisse of Médecins du Monde.

The session will feature case studies from Moldova, presented by Vitali Rabinciuc; Georgia, presented by Marina Chokheli; and Kyrgyzstan, presented by Alla Bessonova. Tetiana Deshko will join the panel discussion. Together, participants will examine how programmes and communities adapt to pressures that threaten access to essential services.

Connecting mental health and harm reduction

On 9 October, 12:20–12:35, Maria Malakhova, Project Manager: Implementation Science and Digital Health Innovations at APH, will speak during the “Integrated Health Responses” session.

Her presentation, “Integrating ADHD treatment into stimulant use services in Ukraine: a multi-site operational model of care,” will share Ukraine’s experience of integrating assessment and treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder into services for people who use stimulants. The model brings mental health support and harm reduction together around people’s needs.

Sharing research from Ukraine and international programmes

APH and its partners will also contribute to the conference poster programme, presenting research on access to treatment and community-based care.

On 8 October, Anna Meteliuk will present two APH posters covering:

• The introduction of long-acting depot buprenorphine for people who inject drugs in Egypt.
• Patients’ values and preferences in introducing community-based hepatitis C treatment for people who inject drugs in Kyrgyzstan.

Also on 8 October, Begimai Myktarbekova of Association Partnership Network, Kyrgyzstan, will present “Introducing the model of community-based hepatitis C treatment among people who inject drugs in Kyrgyzstan.”

On 9 October, Nadiia Semchuk of Alliance for Public Health will present research on gaps in hepatitis C knowledge in relation to awareness of HCV status and testing behaviour among people who inject drugs in Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria and Egypt.

Also on 9 October, Aibar Sultangaziev of Association Partnership Network will present work on hepatitis C diagnosis and treatment in prisons and continuity of community-based care after release in Kyrgyzstan.

Aizada Usenakunova of the Ministry of Health of Kyrgyzstan will also present on 9 October, sharing “Introduction of long-acting depot buprenorphine for people who inject drugs in Kyrgyzstan.”

Bringing community perspectives into treatment decisions

Vielta Parkhomenko from Ukraine, a member of the HepC3P Global Community Advisory Board, will contribute to two discussions on long-acting depot buprenorphine on 8 October. These discussions will address expanding access and supporting informed treatment choices, including the meaningful participation of people who use drugs.

Across these contributions, APH and its partners will share practical experience that can help inform services in other countries, while drawing international attention to the needs of communities in Ukraine and across EECA.

We invite conference participants to meet the APH team and our partners, join the sessions and discuss opportunities for further collaboration.

All times are local to Prague.

View the full conference programme

How can we help people who do not know their HIV status get tested and access the care they need?

Dr Tetiana Deshko, Director of International Programmes and Development at the Alliance for Public Health (APH), shared experience from APH’s programmes in Ukraine and other countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) at a regional workshop on tuberculosis and HIV held on 29–30 September 2026 in Tashkent.

Organised by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in collaboration with WHO and Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Health, the event brought together representatives of national programmes, international experts and civil society. Participants discussed how to accelerate the introduction of new approaches to HIV and TB prevention, diagnosis and treatment across EECA.

In her presentation, Dr Deshko focused on practical solutions that support more effective and earlier HIV diagnosis and shorten the journey from testing to treatment. These included a diagnostic algorithm using three rapid tests, the work of civil society organisations and mobile teams in optimised HIV case finding, and digital solutions: using artificial intelligence to analyse programme data in DHIS2 and supporting people through the TWIIN digital assistant.

“EECA is the only region globally with growing HIV incidence and AIDS-related mortality, due to lack of prevention and suboptimal HIV care coverage. The WHO consultation gave clear pathways: long-acting pre-exposure prophylaxis (LA PrEP) must become a reality, three rapid tests for HIV should lead to a diagnosis, and HIV case-finding strategies using risk networks, together with AI, should help navigate risks and identify new cases or prevent infections as early as possible. These are exactly the solutions I spoke about,” said Dr Tetiana Deshko.

Three Rapid Tests: Diagnosis in a Single Visit

One example was Ukraine’s HIV diagnostic algorithm, which uses three consecutive rapid tests. When trained staff and the necessary tests are available, and all three tests produce reactive results, the algorithm allows a diagnosis to be established in a single visit. This reduces waiting times and helps people access treatment sooner. Moldova and Georgia shared similar experiences.

Community-Based Testing and Support

Another approach involves reaching people for testing through HIV risk networks. Through APH’s programmes, people newly diagnosed with HIV invite partners and others they know who may be at increased risk of HIV to get tested. This work takes place at fixed testing sites run by NGOs and through mobile clinics.

Mobile teams work in areas where HIV services are limited or unavailable. Following testing, people receive support to start treatment or access prevention services. People who test positive receive coupons to invite others in their networks to get tested.

In the first half of 2026, APH’s optimised HIV case-finding programmes identified 716 new cases – almost a quarter of all new cases registered in the regions where these programmes operate.

DHIS2 and TWIIN: Digital Solutions under the iSoS Project

Dr Tetiana Deshko also highlighted digital solutions under the regional iSoS project, supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. She presented approaches to using artificial intelligence to support HIV testing programmes in Central Asia, drawing on the use of DHIS2. AI-assisted analysis of programme data helps identify prevention programme clients at the highest risk of HIV and direct teams’ efforts to where testing is most needed.

Another tool presented was the TWIIN digital assistant, which supports people throughout their testing journey – from finding information about HIV and deciding to get tested to understanding their results and the next steps. It helps answer questions and navigate available services, complementing the work of professionals and civil society organisations.

The experience presented highlights the importance of combining accessible diagnosis, civil society engagement and ongoing support. For people using these services, this means being able to learn their HIV status and access treatment, prevention and support without unnecessary barriers.