The presence of several drug trafficking routes, ethnic conflict, migration and limited health infrastructure in border areas in the Mekong sub region has often been associated with the spread of injecting drug use and related blood borne infections. This necessitates a cross border approach to HIV prevention interventions, which not only support service delivery in these areas but also promote collaboration and cooperation between the affected countries.
The cross border program aims to support harm reduction interventions at one or more sites between two HAARP countries: Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, China, Laos and Vietnam.
Objectives
The objectives of the HAARP cross border program are to:
- Provide HIV prevention services to male and female injecting drug users who are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection due to their proximity to a border area between two or more HAARP countries;
- Improve cooperation and coordination between two or more HAARP countries to respond to HIV risk in people who inject drugs in border areas;
- Support innovative cross border programs and add to currently limited experience and knowledge of effective cross border programming.
The first round of expression of interests in 2009 resulted in an award to Yunnan Provincial HIV/AIDS Prevention & Control Bureau (YNAB). The second round took place in the first quarter of 2010 and was awarded to Health Unlimited UK to work along the China-Burma (Myanmar) border. |