Tag: technical brief

Addressing HIV and TB in Prisons, Pre-Trial Detention and Other Closed Settings

Posted on by Milutin

From EECA Regional Platform for Communication and Coordination

The new technical brief describes how HIV and TB interventions for people in prison and other closed settings can be incorporated into funding requests to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Global Fund supports evidence- and rights-based interventions aimed at ensuring access to HIV and TB prevention, treatment, care, and support for key populations, including people in prison.

Global Fund resources should be used to fund interventions that are in line with internationally agreed standards and technical guidance and have a significant impact on the HIV and TB epidemics in a country. Global Fund policy requires upper-middle income countries to focus 100% of their funding on programs benefiting key and vulnerable populations, lower middle income countries must demonstrate that 50% of funding is focused on the same. Low-income countries are also strongly encouraged to target resources to those at highest risk. Global Fund resources can also be used to advocate for laws and policies that enable an effective human-rights-based HIV and TB response and the removal of policies and laws that present obstacles to this.

  • Section 1 of this brief outlines the vulnerability of people in prison to HIV, TB, viral hepatitis and other infectious diseases. 1 UNAIDS (2015). UNAIDS Strategy 2016-2021. 2 WHO (2016). Global Health Sector Strategy on HIV, 2016-2021. 3 WHO (2015). WHO End TB Strategy. 4 Global Fund (2015) Global Fund Support for Co-morbidities and Co-Infections
  • Section 2 outlines guiding principles for designing and implementing programs.
  • Section 3 outlines the comprehensive package of interventions for HIV, TB, and other health issues recommended by WHO, UNODC, and other partners.
  • Section 4 describes approaches to incorporating prison harm reduction programs within funding proposals, and the health components and strategies for an enabling environment that should be included.
  • Section 5 offers examples of promising practices from around the world.
  • Section 6 lists further publications that may be of assistance in compiling proposals, as well as for technical support in programming. Publications on specific areas are also mentioned throughout this brief and referenced in the footnotes.

The technical brief is available following this link>>>.

What does Universal Health Coverage mean for People Who Use Drugs

Posted on by Milutin

On 23 September 2019, world leaders adopted a high-level United Nations Political Declaration on universal health coverage (UHC) at the United Nations General Assembly. In adopting the declaration, U.N. Member States have committed to advance towards UHC by investing in four major areas around primary health care.

These include mechanisms to ensure no one suffers financial hardship because they have had to pay for healthcare out of their own pockets and implementing high-impact health interventions to combat diseases and protect women’s and children’s health. In addition, countries must strengthen health workforce and infrastructure and reinforce governance capacity. They will report back on their progress to the U.N. General Assembly in 2023.

The International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD) published a Technical Brief which explains how UHC can be both an opportunity and a concern for the health and rights of people who use drugs.

Through sustained diplomacy and negotiation at the political level and strong and concerted advocacy from civil society and communities, UHC is now prominent in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The principle of the SDGs is ‘leave no one behind’; this should be taken to mean that those on the fringes of society are accorded the same rights to health and wellbeing as the most privileged. People who use drugs, along with other criminalised and marginalised populations, clearly fit into this category.

To read the Technical Brief, follow this link>>>