For almost a year, “From Heart to Heart” have being testing the residents of Cherkasy and other near locations for HIV. During this time, 188 representatives of the groups at risk were tested, of which two people with positive result for HIV were detected.
The project is implemented as part of the implementation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in partnership with the International Charitable Foundation “Public Health Alliance” and the “Ukrainian Center for the Control of Sickness at the Ministry of Health of Ukraine”.
The project “Two Quick Tests” which includes the mobile clinic, with the participation of a doctor of infectious disease and a social worker from our organization, assist the city of Cherkasy and other regional centers of the region in Kamyanka, Zhashkiv, Chyhyryn, Zolotonosha, Kaniv, Korsun and Chervona Sloboda. We also have planned trips to assist the cities of Drabova, Chornobai and Shpola.
The target groups of the project are representatives of vulnerable groups at risk including: injecting drug users, sex workers and men who have sex with men. These are the categories of people who are most at risk for HIV. Thanks to this project, there were two people who were identified as positive with the HIV virus. “Now they are undergoing a medical examination and have already been put on a dispensary record, which will enable the timely appointment of high-level antiretroviral therapy (ART) – drugs that help block the reproduction of the HIV virus infection in the blood. Due to the timely detection of infection and treatment, these people will be able to have a normal life, “, says Valentina Gaidai, who is the Manager of Social Work & Health at “From Heart to Heart “.
In addition to testing, specialists of the organization distributed safer sex barriers and packages to prevent HIV to multiple individuals from the groups at risk – preservatives/condoms, syringes, and when necessary, there was an involvement of medical staff who carry out body inspections.
