Overview of the Project:

The project was initiated in February 2006. Funded by DFID as part of the Challenge Fund initiative.

The Goal

To establish comprehensive HIV interventions through a Continuum of Treatment approach for injecting drug users and their partners that can be sustained through partnership between Governmental and Non-Governmental Organizations. The super goal of the project will scale up, establish and strengthen interventions for injecting drug users that will later be sustained through the mechanisms of the NACP III.

The Objectives:

  1. To establish a formal network of various agencies working across different regions that has the necessary capacity to implement durable comprehensive HIV interventions through standardized protocols targeting drug users and their families.
  2. To advocate for sustainable support for HIV prevention and care focusing on drug users and their families through the mechanisms of NACP III.
  3. To guide national and state level IDU interventions through the collaborative establishment of protocols on Needle Syringe Exchange Programs, Opiate Agonist Therapy, STI Management, HIV Testing & Counseling and TB Care.
  4. To increase access to comprehensive HIV prevention and care services for up to 10000 injecting drug users across the country.

The project envisaged scaling up IDU interventions in nine states and aimed at providing services to 10,000 IDUs within the project period. At the end of the reporting period the project has surpassed its goals by a factor of 200%. The continuum of treatment model has been set up in all the targeted states and networks are in place for integration into NACPIII with the Government of India.