Roundtable in Dushanbe to discuss hepatitis C prevalence among people who use drugs, develop national action plan

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Roundtable in Dushanbe to discuss hepatitis C prevalence among people who use drugs, develop national action plan

22 June 2015

For the first time key stakeholders will discuss wide issues related to Hepatitis C prevalence among people who use drugs (PUD), existing challenges in accessing prevention and treatment services and improving the rights of PUD in getting relevant services.

On June 24, 2015 AFEW will gather representatives of state, public and international organisations at a roundtable meeting to discuss situation with Hepatitis C. Together with the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Republic of Tajikistan AFEW continues to implement activities on assessment of situation with prevalence of parenteral Hepatitis C among people who use drugs, analysing existent country data about Hepatitis C.

Both partners organised outreach work to inform people who use drugs about Hepatitis C and refer themfor counselling and testing services to the state medical clinics such as the Blood Centres. As a result, among almost 1400 people who use drugs that were tested, 65 people had Hepatitis B, 435 people tested positive for Hepatitis C, and 39 people had both Hepatitis B and C. It should be noted that such testing is performed for the first time in Tajikistan, since people who use drugs are considered a marginalised group. As a rule, they try to avoid any contact with the health authorities.

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