The government and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Tuesday signed an agreement for prevention of HIV/AIDS among female injecting drug users, spouses of male drug-user and female prisoners. Senior Joint Secretary, Ministry of Narcotics Control, Hassan Mehmood and Chief of Europe and West/Central Asia Section, UNODC, Jean Luc Lemahiea, inked the agreement.
Minister for Narcotics Control, Nazar Muhammad Gondal was also present on the occasion. Under the project a two-year project will be launched to focus on treatment for female injecting drug users and female prisoners in the country.
The primary goal of the project is to enhance the quality of services being provided to female injecting and non-injecting drug users in the community.
Similarly, the prison settings are being improved by providing female access to existing harm reduction services and developing new female-specific and effective referral system to health services providers.
An official of the Ministry said that under the project, key outputs including trained staff and outreach workers will provide harm reduction services by establishing harm reduction services in two female prisons. Besides, provision of gender-sensitive drop-in-centre, including three mobile units exclusively devoted to accessing female injecting drug users, he said.
In addition, the spouses of male injecting drug users, which are at risk, will be given gender training courses in harm reduction service delivery for prison staff peer counsellors, he added. This project has been conceived as a joint programme under the umbrella of one UN, which is currently piloted in the country. The project falls under the health and population thematic working group and covers the joint programming area, five of these are related to HIV and AIDS.
The project will provide services to approximately 1,000 female drug users, 5,000 spouses and families of drug users and 500 female prisoners. The project will also enhance the capacity of institutions within the government and civil society to deliver quality services to the target population after its completion. The signing ceremony was attended by representatives from WHO, UNFPA and UNAIDS and senior officials of the Ministry.
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