The Cambodia Country Program (CP) aims to reduce the spread of HIV associated with injecting drug use among men and women by supporting key enabling, and service delivery elements, of the National Strategic Plan for Illicit Drug Use Related HIV/AIDS 2008-2010.
The program is supporting the scale up and expanded coverage of needle syringe programs (NSP) in Phnom Penh and in up to four provincial 'hotspots'. It is also supports the establishment of opioid substitution treatment through providing procurement, technical and client support services for a methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) program. Additionally HAARP Cambodia works to strengthen Cambodia’s multisectoral response to HIV and harm reduction.
While the CP is not expected to meet all the funding needs identified in the National Strategic Plan, the assistance is intended as a catalyst for drawing other donor resources into the sector and developing a coordinated response to developing a comprehensive range of harm reduction services. The Cambodia CP will complement funding for harm reduction services provided under the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Round 7 grant to help achieve critical mass and fill gaps in service delivery as well as strengthening the coordinated response and contributing to Cambodia's achievement of Millennium Development Goal 6 targets in halting by 2015 and thereafter reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Objectives
The objectives of the Cambodia CP are to:
- expand access to HIV (and associated infectious diseases) prevention information, services and commodities for people who use illicit drugs, those at risk of illicit drug use, their sexual partners and families and to increase access to primary health care for illicit drug users.
- contribute to creating an enabling environment (including related law, policy, quality surveillance, research, advocacy and community engagement) which supports interventions to prevent and treat HIV in illicit drug users.
- develop capacity of the DHA (Illicit Drugs and HIV/AIDS) working group, secretariat and implementation partners (including monitoring and evaluation capacity).
Implementing Partners
Activities are broadly separated into three categories of work:
- Harm Reduction services and research are implemented through local NGOs, specifically Korsang, KHANA, FHI and Friends International and their various local partners.
- MMT is provided by the Ministry of Health National Programme for Mental Health (located at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship hospital) with funding channelled through WHO to improve efficiency. WHO is also providing training and ongoing offsite technical support to the MMT program.
- And, assistance to strengthen the multisectoral response takes place through the Ministry of the Interior and national police services.
In addition, technical assistance is provided to building capacity across Royal Government of Cambodia (RGoC) partner agencies and to address other cross cutting issues in the program, including management support, gender policy and mainstreaming. Funds will also be provided to assist the National Authority for Combating Drugs - Secretariat General (NACD-SG) with finalisation and implementation of key policy papers and guidelines. |