E.V.A. Association Deputy Director Maria Godlevskaya participated in a meeting for the Medicine and Pharmaceutics working group.
NP E.V.A. Deputy Director for Communications with the Patient Community, Maria Godlevskaya, participated in a meeting for the Medicine and Pharmaceutics working group of the Committee of the Russian Federal Government on Issues of Custody in the Social Sphere, which took place on the 15th of September in the Russian State Building.
One of the issues which was considered during the meeting related to the spread of HIV infection in Russia and in particular the situation with the accessibility of antiretroviral therapy. In addition the meeting’s participants – members of the committee, representatives from federal bodies of executive power, and experts from non-profit organizations, among whom was Maria Godlevskaya – discussed the project of the state strategy to counter the spread of HIV infection in the Russian Federation for the period of now until the year 2020.
Maria presented on the role socially oriented non-profit organizations have played, play, and will play in countering the HIV epidemic in Russia. In the project of the HIV strategy it is noted that non-profits specifically can effectively work together with groups at particular risk such as drug users, sex workers, and men who have sex with men, and the involvement of ‘community workers’ in this work is not simply important, but it is of high priority.
Unfortunately, at present, fulfilling this objective in practice happens quite slowly. According to the analysis done by our organization on government purchase of HIV prevention in 2015 and the first half of 2016, socially oriented non-profit organizations were allotted only 5% of the government-funded grants. At the same time 67.5% of the activities of organizations who participated in the call for grants were directed specifically towards at-risk groups. In half of the cases the evaluation of the application was only based on criteria for the lowest prices, not for the qualifications of the organization.
Suggestion: no less than 60% of the resources from the federal budget that are directed towards regional budgets should be allocated on the basis of contests among socially oriented non-profit organizations that work with high risk behavior.
Analysis of the procurement also showed that the production of goods for mass communication are significantly higher than the share of auctions in which the main goods are interpersonal communication, motivation, and counseling. Yet in the procurement where a socially oriented non-profit has won, the number of actual people is frequently indicated, not the number of materials for distribution produced, such as clips or brochures for prevention.
Suggestions:
— develop a sample packet of technical order on prevention for at-risk behavior with direct participation of experts from socially oriented non-profits;
— it is recommended to include both the number of actual citizens reached and the competency criteria for the provider in the technical order;
— in regions with high prevalence of HIV infection it is crucial to include a component on the prevention of HIV infection and support for people living with HIV in the list of priorities for contest support of socially oriented non-profits;
— support the creation of a resource center for socially oriented non-profits working in the field of HIV prevention including among individuals with high-risk behavior.
At the conclusion of the meeting the agenda for the Committee’s next meeting was determined, which will provisionally be held in the second half of October.