Harm redaction strategies to prevent HIV infection among drug users in Belarus.
Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no. TuOrF1164)
Kamlyk AA NGO Positive movement, Minsk, Belarus
Belarus officials first took aggressive action against rapidly expanding drug use in 1997, when a new government policy was unveiled that supports harm reduction efforts. Although the countrys drug laws prohibit the production, possession and sale of drugs, drug use itself and needle exchange programs are not prohibited. Needle exchange is considered an effective public health policy by the national program on HIV prevention. In Belarus there are some 43000 IDUs. About 85% of people with HIV/AIDS are drug users. There is a national network of 41 needle exchange points (NEP) in Belarus. 34 NEPs are opened and funded by local authorities, 7 were set up in the course of UNDP project "Expansion and consolidation of HIV prevention among injection drug users (IDU) in Belarus in the 6 cities. Evaluation of the performance of the 34 NEP showed that they had failed (in many cases completely so) to attract IDU to their services. This is due to the following common factors. In many cases, the access to these NEPs is limited only to officially registered drug users. The choice of injecting paraphernalia and IEC materials is limited and does not meet needs of IDU. The NEPs are inconveniently located and do not have any complementary outreach programme. As a result in 1999-2000 34 state funded NEPs exchanged about 23000 syringes altogether, at the same time 7 other NEPs exchanged 450000 syringes.
Keywords: AEGIS, Needle-Exchange Programs, HIV Infections, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Syringes, Substance-Related Disorders, Byelarus
