Alliance together with partners submitted regional proposal to the Global Fund on sustainability of services for key populations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia region

On April 27, the consortium of regional organizations from Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) – Alliance for Public Health, All-Ukrainian Network of PLWH, Central Asian PLWHA Association and Eurasian Key Populations Health Network, together with technical partners, TB People, as well as partners from Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine submitted a joint proposal to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on regional program on sustainability of services for key populations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia region.

The innovative proposal was developed as a result of an intensive dialogue between the key stakeholders in the region, in consultation with regional community networks, Balkan partners, TB stakeholders, who also submitted a regional proposal.

The proposal provides an answer to the key issue of the EECA region – from where, how and what specific services should be funded for key populations  after the Global Fund leave to effectively influence the dynamics of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the region? Using real experience of budget advocacy and project implementation of partners from the consortium of member countries, the calculations were made of potential savings through optimization of the most expensive and often (especially in the EECA region) overpriced article of state budget expenditures on HIV- procurement of drugs, which will save at least $ 188 million annually and partially direct them to finance services for key groups. The consortium’s calculation of an optimized package of interventions for 90% of risk groups in the project countries (over 3 million people) costs $ 157 million a year, taking into account interventions on human rights and gender-based approaches. Thus, the proposal gives a real way to transition to national financing with a focus on maximizing the effectiveness of interventions for the cascade of key groups in the EECA region.

The proposal was submitted in partnership with community organizations in the region, as well as with civil society organizations, governmental and technical partners. Almost all partners are situated in the countries of the EECA region and are implementers of advocacy and preventing programs, they are well aware on how it is possible to change the regional context on practice. The partners consider the recently submitted proposal as the last chance to implement crucial strategies in the region, which should be focused on transition and treatment cascade, taking into account the legal and gender issues of key populations.

The Global Fund’s decision on the results of the regional proposal is expected in September 2018!