Improved Quality and Sustainability of Medication Assisted Treatment in Ukraine

is a project funded by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) from February 1, 2016 to January 31, 2021 with total budget of $ 2 500 000.

The purposes of this Project is to provide targeted technical assistance to medication assisted therapy programs in Ukraine and stimulate its development in order to improve sustainability and quality of programs and long-term health and social outcomes of MAT clients.

Main objectives:

Define, describe, pilot and evaluate sustainable MAT models,
Improve quality of care and increase MAT effectiveness,
Implement Integrated Care Models of service provision to improve access to MAT patients to ART, TB prevention and treatment, psycho-social support,
Contribute to improvement of post-MAT care, pilot post-MAT service delivery models,
Support MAT scale up in Kyiv and Project sites in other PEPFAR priority regions.

Approach:

The Project implementation strategy is based on the extensive and effective cooperation with Ukrainian Center for Public Health (CPH), Ukrainian Institute for Public Health Policy (UIPHP), NGO “Hope and Trust” (HaT) and Ukrainian Family Medical Association (UFMA), and therefore the project will benefit from synergy of input from key partners. Alliance core efforts will be targeted at the general project implementation and coordination of selected 6 PEPFAR priority regions, development and implementation of MAT models, the organization of integrated care, implementation of the post-MAT model, advocacy of effective MAT models at the national level. CPH involvement will be especially beneficial in organizational and methodological support, facilitate institutionalization of MAT models, policy changes. UIPHP will assist in assessment, protocol development and implementation, clinical guidelines update and training conduction. HaT will assist with implementation of advocacy component and activities aimed to protect rights of MAT patients. UFMA coordinates advanced trainings and recruitment of family doctors to MAT program.

Strategy for project implementation will be in line with PEPFAR Country/Regional Operational Plan, National HIV/AIDS program 2014 – 2018 and objectives of Fast Track Cities Initiative.

Expected project outcomes:

Implemented, evaluated and disseminated MAT models at national level;
Improved quality of medical care throughout personnel training using modern methods and approaches to medical and psychosocial support of MAT patients, stressing out provision of integrated care;
Modified laws and regulations on MAT;
Reduced number of obstacles and Improved access to MAT, especially for HIV positive patients;
All HIV-positive patients at project sites receive ART.

Contact person: Victor Kolomiets.