Andrey Klepikov, Executive Director of Alliance for Public Health, delivered a speech at the plenary session of the first day of the conference.
On 21 November 2016, the Third National HIV/AIDS Conference “For Each Life Together: Fast Track to 90-90-90” started its work in Kyiv. The event gathered experts and community representatives from Ukraine and from all over the world to analyze the challenges related to the HIV epidemic, which Ukraine faces at the stage of government reforms, European integration and shrinking resources in the context of financial and military crisis.
The aim of this annual conference is defining the perspectives in achieving the global fast track targets in overcoming the HIV epidemic by 2030 and searching for the ways to use best practices aimed at ensuring sustainability and effectiveness of the response to HIV epidemic in Ukraine.
On the first day of the conference, Andriy Klepikov, Executive Director of Alliance for Public Health, delivered a speech at the plenary session. In his presentation, he focused his attention on the achievements of prevention programs for key populations and the challenges which should be overcome to achieve the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets as well as the innovative approaches implemented by Alliance. Such approaches include assisted testing, which allowed increasing the number of clients screened for HIV by 250% in the first 9 months of 2016 as compared to the same period of 2014. Another approach allowing to significantly increase the effectiveness of referral of people who test positive for HIV is case management – in 9 months 2016, 68% of clients who worked with case managers were registered at healthcare facilities, among them 91% started treatment (as compared to the clients who received rapid test results but were not enrolled into the case management project – only 17% of them were registered at healthcare facilities and only 43% of those who sought confirmation of the diagnosis in specialized treatment institutions actually started treatment).
Special focus was made on Alliance activities in the military conflict areas in Eastern Ukraine, where 11 civil society organizations continue receiving support in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. In 9 months 2016, prevention services were provided to 40,411 members of key populations in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, with 372 people testing positive for HIV, who were all referred for further diagnostics. At the temporarily uncontrolled areas, clients received 4,129 counseling sessions of psychologists, 1,132 counseling sessions of medical workers with the delivery of medicines and healthcare goods and 2,419 food and hygiene kits.
“Thanks to the international donors and partners, who landed their shoulders to us during the hard times, Ukraine held out, – stated Andriy Klepikov in his speech. – Our country is now at the crossroads. The resources are shrinking, with the epidemic concentrated mainly in high-risk groups. We need to define and concentrate on the most effective activities and interventions. This conference really united Ukraine, today in this room there are representatives of civil society organizations from the occupied Crimea and temporarily uncontrolled areas of the Eastern Ukraine. Only together, with our joint efforts, we will overcome the epidemic.”
Also, a speech at the plenary session was given by an Alliance employee, Anton Basenko, as a member of the Communities Delegation to the Board of the Global Fund.
Materials from Andriy Klepikov’s presentation:
