Republican Fund Mahalla

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Republican Fund Mahalla
THE WORLD BANK
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Involvement of local communities in HIV
prevention in Uzbekistan
Gulnora Youlchieva Deputy Chairperson of
Republican Fund Mahalla
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Participation of Fund Mahalla to increasr the
level of population awareness in HIV prevention

• Mahalla was included in the National
  Strategic Program on response to HIV-infection
  prevalence in Uzbekistan for 2007-2011 in the
  activities for increasing the level of population
  awareness in HIV prevention and stigma
  discrimination reduction towards vulnerable groups

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Organizational structure of Fund Mahalla

• There are 10,000 mahallas in the Republic of
  Uzbekistan with the whole population about 27
  million people

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Background

• A series of meetings were organized with makhalla
  leaders in different regions of Uzbekistan
• The readiness of makhalla leaders to contribute
  towards increasing population awareness on HIV
  prevention was confirmed
• Increasing the capacity (skills, tools,
  knowledge) of makhalla leaders in the issues of
  HIV prevention was indicated
• CAPACITY supported the initiative of the
  Republican Fund Mahalla and RAC/M?H to develop a
  Training Module for the makhalla leaders on HIV
  prevention and stigma discrimination reduction
  towards vulnerable population groups

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PARTNERSHIP

• The training Module was developed, translated
  into Uzbek language and approved by RAC/MoH and
  the Republican Fund Makhalla
• Positive feedback was received from the Committee
  on cultural-outreach activities and Committee on
  Terminology of Uzbekistan

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PARTNERSHIP

• A series of meetings with all interested
  partners was organized by CAPACITY for the
  discussion and approval of the Joint Work plan of
  Training module implementation
• Republican Fund Mahalla
• Institute of Health/ MoH
• RAC /MoH
• Project Health-2/ WB
• Capacity

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Main Steps of implementing the Joint Work Plan

• Publication of Training Module
• (Minutes of the Ministry of Health RUz in
  accordance with the subcomponent HIVAIDS and
  STI from April 18, 2008)
• Development and publication of a special
  questionnaire for evaluation of the level of
  population awareness on HIV prevention
• (Minutes of the Ministry of Health RUz in
  accordance with the subcomponent HIV/AIDS and
  STI from April 18, 2008)

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Main Steps of implementing the Joint Work Plan

• Orientation Meeting for the representatives of
  Regional AIDS Centers, Regional Branches of Fund
  Mahalla and Institute of Health
• (Decree of the Ministry of Health RUz in
  accordance with the subcomponent HIV/AIDS and
  STI from May 16, 2008)
• Initial Survey on assessing population awareness
  on HIV prevention
• Online database development for entering survey
  results on population awareness (before and after
  Training module implementation) and further
  analyses

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Main Steps of Implementing the Joint Work Plan

• Data analysis of the initial survey
• ToT in five pilot regions of Uzbekistan for
  preparation of national team of trainers
• (Decree of MoH of RUz ?798 from July 31,
  2008)
• Monitoring of trainers activities on HIV
  prevention and stigma discrimination reduction
  towards vulnerable groups in 5 regions
• Evaluation of the level of population awareness
  on HIV prevention
• Scaling up of the Model implementation to all
  regions of Uzbekistan

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Survey to assess the level of population awareness

• 5 pilot regions Tashkent, Tashkent Oblast,
  Bukhara, Samarkand, Termez
• 1,000 questionnaires for 5 pilot regions
• Branches of the Republican Mahalla Foundation
  and Institute of Health and Medical Statistics
  were involved in conducting surveys before and
  after implementation of the Model

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Survey Results
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Training of mahalla leaders

• ToTs were conducted in 5 pilot regions and 242
  makhallas leaders were trained
• Activities with the general population were
  conducted in all pilot regions about 2,000
  makhallas
• Monitoring of trainers activities among the
  general population was conducted by the Institute
  of Health (220 events)

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Survey Results
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Results

• Increased level (27) of population awareness on
  HIV issues and reduction of the level of negative
  attitude towards PLHIV (48)
• The level of misconception about HIV transmission
  being only through vulnerable groups was reduced
  (32)

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Conclusions

• Results of Model implementation have confirmed
  its
• effectiveness
• Key aspects of successful implementation of the
  Model
• Close partnership with national and international
  organizations
• Institutionalization of the education system of
  makhalla leaders
• Monitoring and constant support of their
  activities

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Conclusions

• This innovative approach has been presented in
  the international conferences on
  HIV/AIDS(??scow-2008, ??xico City - 2008) and
  proposed by international experts for use and
  adaptation in other countries
• It should be noted that this Model could also be
  effectively used in prevention of other diseases
  among the general population

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• Thank you!