ARV4IDUs in Central and Eastern Europe - Barriers to access and ways to overcome them
As the World Health Organization (WHO) and other groups have shown, antiretroviral therapy (ART) is effective in treating injecting drug users (IDUs) for HIV – provided they receive adequate support.
The effectiveness of ART has been demonstrated for both active and former IDUs, including those on opioid substitution therapy (OST). The benefits are manifold and include cost-effectively improving both individual and public health, reducing HIV transmission and honouring everyone’s right to health.
This report examines the barriers that Central and Eastern European IDUs face in accessing ART, and it highlights some of the ways that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and governments have found to overcome these obstacles.
The EATG commissioned this document as part of the AIDS Action & Integration Projects funded by the European Commission. It was written by Raminta Stuikyte and Shona Schonning of the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network (EHRN). Review of the paper was provided by Irina Eramova (WHO Regional Office for Europe), Konstantin Lezhentsev (All-Ukrainian Network of People Living With HIV/AIDS) and Peter Wiessner (EATG). Elizabeth Verhetsel (EATG) provided guidance and support, as did Ana Lucia Cardoso (EATG), Smiljka de Lussigny (EATG) and Simona Merkinaite (EHRN). Misha Hoekstra (independent consultant) edited the report and wrote the action map.
Research for this paper involved a survey and interviews as well as a literature review. The 14 survey respondents were HIV activists, all of them participants in HIV Treatment for Injecting Drug Users, a seminar organized by EATG and EHRN in Vilnius in November 2007. EATG would like to thank all of the PLHIV, drug users and medical professionals who responded to surveys and gave interviews, as well as the seminar participants who read and reviewed the initial text.
The literature review covered peer-review articles, reports, position papers, UN documents, international conference abstracts and on-line sources. A draft of the paper was also disseminated during the seminar, and participant feedback was subsequently incorporated. It was then reviewed by the three international experts and the project staff named above.
EATG would also like to thank the programme committee and the speakers from the Vilnius seminar: Anton Blinov (Renewal), Stephan Dressler (EATG), Diego Garcia (Foro Español de Activistas en Tratamientos del VIH (FEAT)), Mauro Guarinieri (EATG), Konstantin Lezhentsev, Luis Mendão (Grupo Português de Activistas sobre Tratamentos de VIH/SIDA (GAT)), Simona Merkinaite, Milena Naydenova (International Network of People Who Use Drugs (INPUD)), Alvaro Ortiz de Zarate (T4 Association), Marta Pastor (Comisión Antisida de Bizkaia), Xavier Pretel (Spanish National Network of People Affected by Drugs and HIV (FAUDAS)) and Andrei Zlobin (Community of PLHIV in Russia).
ARV4IDUs in Central and Eastern Europe - Barriers to access and ways to overcome them
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