July 25, 2023 12:00 до 13:30 (EEST, UTC +3), the webinar “Introducing harm reduction services for people who use drugs recreationally in EECA and the Balkans ” will be held.
Recreational drug use is on the rise, but at the same time young people who engage in it are not properly targeted by harm reduction services and don’t receive the necessary support, information and commodities they need to prevent them from turning to problematic use and all the relevant consequences.
On this webinar we’ll share international experience on planning and implementing harm reduction programs specifically for this target population, as well as present the guide that we are working on in this regard.
This webinar will be useful for program managers, advocates, policy makers and communities from across the region to help them inform their decisions and actions.
The webinar will be held in ZOOM.
Please register to partisipate.
Languages: English, Russian, BHS, Albanian
Agenda:
Timing, Kyiv time (EEST/UTC+3)
Speaker and topic
12:00 – 12:10
Slava Kushakov, Alliance for Public Health
Introducing the key principles and the justification behind the need to advocate for, develop and offer HR services for people who use recreationally.
12:10 – 12:30
Irena Molnar, ReGeneration
Promoting Safety, Health, and Well-being:
The need for Systematic implementation of Harm Reduction Strategies in Southeastern European Festivals.
12:30 – 12:50
Galina Sergienko,Alliance for Public Health
Ukrainian experience on harm reduction services for people who use drugs recreationally.
12:50 – 13:10
Stefan Pejic,ReGeneration
#SafeParty – good practice example of multi-sectoral approach in nightlife harm reduction and recreation settings.
The first camp shift in Safe Place ended with a smile and a lot of impressions ☺️
Ten children from the occupied Tokmak have become close friends with our entire team during the stay. That’s why we are sad to see them go, but we are keeping the bright moments.
Together we visited many interesting places in Lviv and beyond. We saw exhibited animals at the Zoological Museum of the Ivan Franko University and played with real animals at the Skarbova Hora Ranch. We created wood crafts at Open Lab Lviv and danced break dancing at Urban Camp Lviv. We drew on a media board at the Youth Center and learned to firefight at the State Emergency Service University. We thank everyone for this opportunity to give children from the frontline areas a carefree holiday.
The basis of our camp for IDP children is psychological work. Every day we hold evening circles where children talk to psychologist Galyna in a relaxed atmosphere. They talk about their impressions and expectations of the new day in the camp. Galyna becomes a true friend for the children, who, as a matter of professional duty, keeps all their secrets. If necessary, the psychologist communicates with the children in private. In addition, everyone has a Safe Camp diary where they record their work with the psychologist.
The children are also supervised by tutors who are future psychologists and social workers from the University of the State Emergency Service. Svitlana, a health worker, monitors the children’s physical health and informs parents how they feel today. This comprehensive approach is extremely important when working with IDP children and helps them feel comfortable in the camp.
In the future, we are planning 5 more shifts of the Safe Camp, where we expect more than 50 IDP children from the frontline cities of Bakhmut, Svitlodarsk and Gulyaypol. All children will be accommodated in the Safe Place shelter.
We thank the University of the State Emergency Service in Lviv and Vice-Rector Ivan Movchan for their help with tutors and instructors and comprehensive support.
ALLIANCE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH COMMEMORATES INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S DAY
On International Children’s Day Alliance for Public Health calls to prioritize more children affected by war in Ukraine – to provide them access to medical and social services, including HIV, TB and other health services, education, appropriate living conditions and access humanitarian assistance.
Children are among the most vulnerable groups suffering from russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, making the devastating impact of war on 7.5 million children in Ukraine.
ALLIANCE RESPONSE
Evacuation from war affected regions (literally from the first days of the war).
Alliance supported 17 shelters in 10 regions of Ukraine (Zaporizhia, Mykolaiv, Dnipro, Donetsk, Odesa, Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Poltava, Cherkasy, Lviv and Kharkiv regions) including safe spaces for children and adolescents.
Providing medical, psychological, educational, humanitarian needs of internally displaced children – 200 small humanitarian projects were supported having families with children and adolescents among the key recipients with over 5 000 children received different kinds of assistance.
Humanitarian assistance to medical and social institutions working with children (among over 2 000 tons of humanitarian assistance delivered by Alliance humanitarian convoys the significant share was for children: food, milk formula, medical pediatric supplies, equipment for child rehabilitation, educational materials, toys etc).
Targeted humanitarian, social and medical support for children from key populations families, in particular, people who use drugs (PWUD), sex workers (CSW) and other KPs.
Support for over 700 children with special needs from orphanages and state institutions both local and evacuated from occupied territories and war affected areas.
Support for educational and extra-curricular and tailored group leisure activities for 313 children from Kyiv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Odesa, Cherkasy and Slovyansk.
Providing basic humanitarian and medical support to children and families living on de- occupied territories through Alliance’s mobile treatment points (MTP), particularly in Kherson and Kharkiv regions, near the frontline where medical, educational and social infrastructure are not functional.
Providing medical, social and psychological support through HeplNOW, Help24 and other platforms to war refugees – families with children and adolescents.
Click here or on the image below to view the report:
Today, EATG and APH are glad to announce the launch of the STEP-UP MOOC platform.
The STEP-UP MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) is a bilingual (English/Russian), self-paced e-learning training programme accessible to all participants, with no selection process mandated. It is designed by the community for the community, based on the long-standing experience of EATG’s STEP-UP (Skills Training to Empower Patients) capacity-building project.
STEP-UP MOOC is addressed to activists from across Europe and Central Asia, young researchers, healthcare workers and those who work in communities. As a participant, you will have free access to comprehensive knowledge, community mobilisation support, and advocacy training that will help you upgrade your activities and deliver real change.
Participants will benefit from acquiring new knowledge and explore in such areas as:
Science of HIV/AIDS, co-infections, HIV cure and design of clinical trials
Stigma, discrimination and criminalisation
Harm reduction and service delivery for vulnerable groups
Advocacy with pharmaceutical companies on treatment pricing and affordability
HIV and mental health
Ageing and co-morbidities
Migration and travelling with HIV
Upon completion of the MOOC, a globally recognised certificate of training will be awarded to each participant.
Within two months from this launch, the organisers will select participants for the onsite Community of Practice Workshop ‘STEP-UP Weekend’ in Europe. In order for you to be considered for a place in this workshop, you must achieve an 80% or higher score in the final examination and submit a project concept focused on delivering real value to your community.
Access to the online course and certification will remain available throughout the year.
Registration is open now and all participants are welcome.
Step two — You will receive an email from e-Sia with access to the online learning platform and a 6-digit pin code to log in. STEP-UP MOOC is hosted on the e-Sia learning platform.
Dany Stolbunov, STEP-UP MOOC Community Manager, EATG, stepup@eatg.org
Inna Gavrylova, PR & Communications Manager, Alliance for Public Health, gavrylova@aph.org.ua
The STEP-UP Training Academy has been a flagship project of EATG since 2013. After five face-to-face cycles and one online, the new implementation of STEP-UP MOOC is an online training platform created in collaboration with APH. Both the new format and the involvement of a partner organisation from Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) region aim to assure a wider reach of trainees from diverse settings.
This initiative has been independently developed by EATG, and was made possible through sponsorship from Gilead Sciences Europe Ltd. EATG acknowledges that Gilead Sciences Europe Ltd has not had any control or input into the structure or content of the initiative. The STEP-UP MOOC is implemented in collaboration with Alliance for Public Health
On the eve of World TB Day we are reflecting on over a year of TB response during the war. Despite the challenges due to shelling, destruction, energy terror, migration of both general population and medical professionals Ukraine gives decisive TB response.
Coordinated efforts of government, civil society, international partners as well as financial support from the Global Fund and other donors during the war allow to keep TB epidemic under control. In some regions we were able to identify 2-3 times more TB cases than before the war, linking them to treatment. Timely delivery of TB drugs sometimes even by bicycles when it was no fuel, providing psychosocial and mental health support led to the most important results – over 80% of drug-resistant TB were cured.
Read more about civil society’s efforts to fight tuberculosis during the war in our situation report.
On February 24, 2022, at 5.00 a.m., russia started its large-scale military offensive on the territory of Ukraine. The shortest month of a year turned out to be the longest bloodshed of a year for Ukrainians and the entire civilized world.
These 12 months of the large-scale war caused the largest migration movement in Europe since the World War II — 15 million Ukrainians have left their homes and became internally displaced persons (IDPs) or refugees; over 1,370 healthcare facilities in Ukraine have been destroyed or damaged by russian invaders, who are committing war crimes against the population denying civilians access to vital services and treatment, torturing and killing people. People living with HIV and TB, clients of programs supported by Alliance, social workers, and physicians are dying as a result of the war.
Video: Annual summary from Andriy Klepikov, Executive Director of the Alliance for Public Health
Since the early days of the war Alliance for Public Health (Alliance) has worked together with other civil society and community organizations, healthcare facilities, Ministry of Health, Public Health Center, and other government organizations to support people and keep the HIV and TB epidemics under control. And with joint efforts, we have succeeded!
During one year of the war, 4 times more people have become Alliance beneficiaries than in previous years – over 1 million Ukrainians! Due to our cooperation with donors and partners, Alliance has delivered and handed over 2,000 tons of humanitarian and medical cargoes to more than 200 healthcare facilities throughout Ukraine, including in the liberated areas of Kherson, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv oblasts.
In this report, we present the most important findings resulting from the unique experience of a year of the indomitable struggle.
At the beginning of January, in Lviv, the “Safe Place” shelter began its work. This shelter is located in the downtown, at Solomii Krushelnytskoii st., 3, which is very convenient for resolving organizational issues. Anna Horkun, curator of shelter support, tells about the features of the shelter and the services that residents can get at ICF “Alliance for Public Health”.
Is there a need to open shelters in Ukraine?
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the issue of temporary accommodation for people who have lost their homes has been acute. According to Situation Reports – OCHA, about 11.2 million people in Ukraine need emergency support with housing and basic necessities. Another 1.7 million people have winter-related needs, including solid fuel and heating appliances.
Unfortunately, due to the systematic shelling and, as a result, the lack of energy resources and heating in many regions, the need for shelters is only increasing.
I cooperate with twenty-five shelters throughout Ukraine, these shelters are coordinated by the Alliance for Public Health. We help their development, but it is clear that this is not the general picture throughout Ukraine. With the onset of cold weather and the beginning of active shelling of the energy system, the need for temporary housing has increased sharply, because now even those people who have housing are in a situation where they do not have heating and electricity for a long time and, in fact, the housing becomes unusable. Accordingly, the need for temporary accommodation in a place where all this is available is becoming more and more relevant.
The “Safe Place” shelter provides “peer-to-peer” services!
According to the data of the Department of Social Protection of the Lviv City Council, in 2022 Lviv became one of the largest reception centers for internally displaced persons. More than 5 million people passed through the city and about 200,000 people stayed to live in Lviv.
Even before the opening of the shelter, it was decided that we would provide the opportunity for IDPs to work in it. All employees of the shelter are people who moved to Lviv in connection with the war. They understand very well the psychology of shelter guests (residents), and how to provide support, share the pain and suffering of another person, and they speak the same language. It is very important. This is such empathy.
In addition, it is the creation of new jobs, because now it is very difficult to find a job, especially in such crowded cities as Lviv. And we want to continue to support the creation of job opportunities for IDPs and the provision of peer-to-peer services. This is the advantage of this shelter.
The shelter in the center of Lviv is special, it is a pilot project that will create general standards and rules for the provision of such services for the operation of shelters in Ukraine, which the Alliance plans to open in other cities in 2023.
Where is it located and how to get there?
At the beginning of the war, I was a volunteer in Lviv and helped resettle people who came from different parts of Ukraine. At that time, there was no question of comfortable living, all premises that could be equipped for temporary living quarters were used. I saw the conditions people lived in at the beginning of the war, I saw how difficult it was. It is extremely difficult physically to come from Mariupol and after such difficult experiences to get the opportunity to live in insufficiently adapted conditions for life. That is why i tried very hard to create the conditions that would maximally promote adaptation, the ability to recover faster and build the life further. Therefore, the conditions in the shelter are quite good: there are a large number of bathrooms, high-quality beds, bed linen, there is an opportunity to prepare your own food and receive expert advice.
When choosing the future place of our shelter, we focused on making it convenient for people to get there by both intercity and city transport. Currently, the “Safe Place” shelter is located almost in the very center of Lviv, opposite Ivan Franko Park, at Solomii Krushelnytskoii St., 3, – not far from main points, such as: train stations, medical facilities, structures where you can receive services (renewal of documents, social assistance).
The shelter operates in the format of a hostel with all amenities. Accommodation and food are free, and the shelter can accommodate 21 people at a time. It has 8 rooms for accommodation, as well as separate rooms for providing consulting services and for conducting various master classes. We have separate family rooms and a room for families with small children with an additional bathroom. At the moment, the maximum period of stay in the shelter is 2 weeks. Currently, meetings are being held with potential partners who will provide hot lunches for residents of the shelter.
What services are available while staying at the shelter?
The shelter will operate as an information hub providing consultations with lawyers, psychologists, social workers and, if necessary, medical counseling for members of key populations which are vulnerable for HIV, involving Help24 online platform.
We will also conduct active informational work that will help people as much as possible in adaptation, finding housing and work. For example, advice on writing a curriculum vitae. In the future, it is planned to organize the possibility of signing a declaration with a doctor in order to receive medical assistance.
Another important service which is provided by the shelter is the conducting of creative lectures and master classes. Such measures are a very important component of adaptation in stressful situations. When a person diligently does something with his hands, he frees his thoughts for a while. And in the current situation, it is simply necessary to clear the head of difficult thoughts and feelings.
Even before the opening of the shelter, in a closed format, we held a test master class on making Vytynanky (cutouts). It was not by chance that this particular activity was chosen, since small motor skills exercises greatly distract a person from constantly reading the news. Also, on the day of the official opening of the shelter, a master class on creating a “dream house” from gingerbread was held for children from different parts of Ukraine who currently live in Lviv.
Since this project is a pilot project, we should use it to see what services are really relevant, in demand and what can be recommended to people and other shelters which are operating in Ukraine.
“Alliance for Public Health” will expand the humanitarian support program in Ukraine “The war continues, so the need for shelters will only grow. Currently, in Ukraine, many shelters for IDPs are already functioning and many more will be opened. All of them differ in the format of services, term and conditions of residence. Our approach is slightly different from the classic one (just to provide a ceiling over the head) – we aim to help IDPs with rehabilitation in a short period of time. First of all, we have very comfortable living conditions and friendly staff from among IDPs who are already oriented in Lviv and have gone through rehabilitation. Secondly, on the basis of our shelter, a wide range of services will be provided for children and adults, which will help to recover physically and psychologically, and to plan further life in a calm atmosphere”, – says Slava Kushakov, senior advisor of ICF “Alliance for Public Health”.
He also shared the immediate plans for the implementation of the project “Integrated Humanitarian Response in Conditions of War and Post-War Reconstruction”, which is implemented with the financing of UKAID and the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) and with the technical support and coordination of the Christian Aid charity organization. According to his words, the “Alliance for Public Health” will continue to expand the humanitarian support program in Ukraine. Currently, work is underway to launch 3 mobile clinics. One of them is mobile somatology, which is already being converted. Also, it is planned to provide 125 mini-grants and 400 grants of multi-purpose financial assistance for the urgent needs of households. Cooperation with shelters will continue, as part of their activities, necessary services will be provided for about 10,000 people who live there.
Slava Kushakov emphasized that, whatever happens, the Alliance and its regional partners will continue to work despite numerous challenges, risks to life and health to solve the urgent problems of Ukrainians!
It should be noted that since the beginning of summer, the Alliance for Public Health, in response to the humanitarian crisis which is caused by Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine, launched a comprehensive program of humanitarian support in the conditions of war and post-war reconstruction of the country. The main directions are support for representatives of vulnerable communities, aimed at ensuring urgent humanitarian, social and medical needs and a worthy life in crisis conditions, through the implementation of crisis response measures.
For 8 months, vigorous activities have been carried out within the framework of the large-scale project “Integrated Humanitarian Response in Conditions of War and Post-War Reconstruction”. Through joint efforts, together with 24 NGOs, it was possible to quickly and effectively deploy activities in 16 regions of Ukraine. Only in the first 3 months of work, 75,271 people received the necessary assistance, including IDPs, families with children, people with disabilities, representatives of groups who are vulnerable to HIV infection.
In the first days of March 2022, a week after russia started its full-scale aggression against Ukraine, the APH developed and launched a unique service to support PLHIV and KP, who encountered difficulties in accessing treatment and other necessary services. Leaving their homes and becoming internally displaced persons or refugees in other countries created an additional barrier to access to vital services and jeopardized adherence to treatment and life for such people. #HelpNow has made it easy to reach people in need using various methods. The Hub team can quickly inform these people and direct them to the service they need in their new (temporary) location.
For ten months, from March to December 2022, #HelpNowHUB received more than 15,800 requests from Ukrainians in 47 countries and within Ukraine, coordinating through # HelpNowPL, #HelpNowDE, #HelpNowClinicalHUB and direct social support.
In 2022, Moldova became one of the countries that not only accepted but also provided meaningful support to Ukrainian war refugees. At the end of February, humanitarian, social, medical, psychological and integration assistance programmes were swiftly rolled out in the country.
The #SoS_2.0 partners of the Initiative Positiva public association, together with the National HIV and TB Program in Moldova and other partners in the country, have launched a special programme to support Ukrainians who need continued treatment for HIV, TB and hepatitis and their loved ones, HIV and COVID-19 treatment, prevention and testing, humanitarian support as well as psychological support services. The #SoS_2.0 regional project team responded rapidly and redirected emergency resources to support the work of #HelpNowHub Moldova for 3 months until the end of June 2022. Today, the hub continues to operate with the support of the national programme and other donors.
“The Alliance for Public Health was one of the first donors to come to Moldova with the financial resources to support needed new programmes when they were urgently needed, in the early days of Russia’s large-scale war against Ukraine. – said Ina Vutkarev, refugee coordinator at the Initiative Positiva. – From the first days Ukrainians started coming to us and then we just started working, not understanding what would happen next and how long it would last. This is how #HelpNowHub Moldova emerged in the very beginning to provide an emergency response during the first months of the war. Today it is already a multi-functional Positive Initiative refugee service which we set up in response to needs and expanded partnerships within the country. We will help for as long as people need our help.”
Representatives of the Alliance for Public Health visited Chisinau on 16-18 February 2023 to discuss with Moldovan partners the results of their cooperation in supporting refugees from Ukraine and new challenges. They had a series of meetings with partners from the Positive Initiative: management, case managers and social workers, psychologists, as well as visited 2 refugee centres, had the opportunity to observe first-hand the process of service provision and to communicate with Ukrainians, currently residing in these centres.
Also during the visit, Ievgen Kushnir, Senior Programme Manager of the Alliance Public Health met with Ms Angela Kutasevich, Deputy Mayor of Chisinau. They discussed municipal support programmes for refugees from Ukraine and the progress of the Chisinau municipality’s 2022-2025 HIV programme in achieving the 95-95-95 targets for AIDS elimination.
“Moldova’s support for Ukrainians from the first days of the large-scale bloody and brutal military aggression of Russia against Ukraine and the entire civilised world, is invaluable. I am pleased that last spring we were able to quickly find support for the Positive Initiative’s work to create #HelpNowHub to provide specialised care to key populations in the context of HIV and their families,” said Ievgen Kushnir. – Today it is already a multi-functional hub that continues to do its important systemic work. We are very grateful to all partners from Moldova for all that they have done, are doing and will continue to do. Moldova has been our strategic partner in responding to the HIV/AIDS epidemic at the level of the EECA region for many years now, and we will continue to work together.”
It should be noted that the 3-month emergency project to support the work of #HelpNowHub in Moldova included the provision of access to the following services for Ukrainian refugees from key populations:
– psychological, social and humanitarian support;
– Support for continuity of ART, OST, TB and hepatitis treatment;
– HIV, COVID-19, syphilis and hepatitis testing and access to harm reduction services.
During April-June 2022, 795 people in Moldova were tested for HIV, syphilis and hepatitis. 161 people received ARV treatment, 11 received TB treatment, 21 were on opioid substitution therapy and 340 benefited from harm reduction services.
‘We have nothing to show our gratitude to you, not even a little treat. Let us make you some tea at least!’ And ten minutes later, in the middle of a grim cold landscape of the village that survived occupation and is now experiencing one of its hardest winters, colorful mugs and teapots appear, people start smiling, and — even if it is just because of the tea — it gets warmer.
This is a welcome from Shevchenkove village, one of the destinations of another trip of the ‘MTP: Mobile Treatment Points’ project.
This time, beside Shevchenkove, we travelled to Monachynivka, Prosianka, Vyshnivka and Husinka — the liberated villages in Kupyansk rayon of Kharkiv region.
In a few days, our project enabled almost one and a half people to receive a consultation with a doctor and get the medications they needed right away. We delivered and distributed 300 first aid kits with basic medicines. In the situation where the village has had no health worker for months, and the nearest drugstore is tens of kilometers away, these simple things look like a miracle.
In the villages near the frontline, people just have nowhere to buy basic household chemicals like tooth paste, washing powder or soap. We have brought more than a hundred of individual hygienic kits thanks to NGO Volunteer hundred.
120 food packs will provide the most necessary nutrition to more than a hundred families. And a hundred of kids will have at least a small holiday with sweet gifts.
There are, of course, warm clothes as well, so that the people whose homes were ruined or damaged, who were left without power supply and heating, or were forced away from home by russians, would feel warmth and care despite the freezing cold. We thank Help Ukraine.center in Chełm for warm clothes, hygiene products, medicines and medical equipment for hospitals.
The people we visited asked us to convey their enormous gratitude. People from the deoccupied territories, those who have see the war in their own yard, who were deprived of their usual way of life because of it, are grateful for attention and help in an especially touching way.
And we know for sure we will not abandon our people. We will withstand if every village, yard and family behind the back of our army will withstand. For that, we continue collecting aid and delivering it to the people who have no-one else to rely on but you and us.
