In Uzbekistan, HIV incidence is increasing, with 2205 newly reported HIV infections in 2006 and 30% of IDUs testing HIV-positive in Tashkent between 2003 and 2004.

Three initial Trust Points (TPs) during 2000-2003 providing harm reduction services (mostly needle exchange) were scaled up to 10 TPS in 2004 to provide more comprehensive HIV prevention and Harm Reduction services.

To evaluate the programme, 100 IDUs were interviewed about accessability, availability, variety and quality of services provided; the effectiveness of those services and the satisfaction of the survey participants.

70% were satisfied with services, especially needle and syringes exchange, psychological support and referral to HIV testing. 30% of survey participants did not find Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) available in TP and 20% were not satisfied by the fact of being referred to AIDS centre for testing part of the VCT, anticipating its availability in TP. 50% got information about substitution treatment from TPs and 30 were referred to substitution treatment.

The study concluded that while many IDUs are satisfied with services rendered in TPs, further improvement for provision of more comprehensive services including the complete VCT available in TPs is essential.

Ref:
Makhkamov M. Trust points as an effective approach to scale up HIV prevention among injecting drug users. Abstract CDB0334.
http://www.aids2008.org/Pag/Abstracts.aspx?AID=4470