VNG International

HIV/AIDS

Public health

Community development

The overall objective was to establish a safer, HIV/AIDS-responsive environment in the most heavily affected cities by the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Crimea (Yalta, Simferopol, Feodosiya, and Evpatoria) in the Ukraine.

The specific objective was to strengthen the capacity of Crimean municipalities in their policy formulating, service provision and co-ordinating role in the fight against HIV/AIDS through a working relationship in the field of HIV/AIDS between the involved Ukrainian municipalities and municipal organisations and the Association of Netherlands Municipalities and its Dutch member municipalities and municipal organisations.

Results achieved:

- Municipal HIV/AIDS councils were established and strengthened in the four Crimean cities;

- HIV/AIDS working groups established within three Crimean cities, with the aim to develop a local HIV/AIDS strategy;

- Local HIV/AIDS strategies and work plans for their implementation developed in three of the four Crimean cities;

- Hard reduction programmes for Injecting Drug Users (IDU's) and Commercial Sex Workers (CWS's) included as priority in the local HIV/AIDS strategies of three Crimean cities;

- Awareness of the general public about HIV/AIDS and harm reduction increased though articles produced by journalists from local media;

- The capacity, skills and knowledge of stakeholders in the four cities to carry out harm reduction activities increased through training and advice by Dutch experts and the study visit to the Netherlands;

- Harm reduction programmes in the four cities were supported through medical and non-medical supplies and printing of information materials.