The Eurasian Coalition on Male Health (ECOM) is pleased to announce that its concept note for the regional program “Right to Health: Community Actions to Increase Access of MSM and Transgender People to HIV Services in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia” was submitted to the Global Fund on January 29, 2016. ECOM’s regional program aims to contribute to an increased update and retention across the continuum of HIV care for MSM and trans* people in CEECA.
The program’s three main objectives are:
(1) to contribute to an increase in MSM and trans* community participation in decision-making in national HIV responses;
(2) to contribute to building the capacity of MSM and trans* organizations by strengthening organizational structures, technical competence and fundraising capacity; and
(3) to strengthen enabling environments for HIV services for MSM and trans* people, by fighting stigma and discrimination, promoting and protecting human rights, and removing legal and policy barriers.
The regional program will be implemented in five countries: Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and Macedonia. In making its selection of countries for program implementation, ECOM’s Steering Committee weighed a number of factors, including the HIV prevalence among MSM/TG, the availability (or lack) of national funding for HIV prevention and treatment activities targeting these groups, the level of civil society participation in shaping national policies related to MSM/TG health, subregional representation, as well as the potential impact of the regional program in both individual countries and in the region as a whole. The total requested budget of the regional program for 3 years is EUR 3,073,710

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Development of the regional program has taken 11 months and involved thorough work with the communities, Country Coordinating Mechanisms and other stakeholders in the CEECA region. A comprehensive online consultation and offline regional dialogue consultation meeting were held in order to gain essential feedback for the development of the concept note.
If approved by the Global Fund, ECOM’s regional program would commence in November 2016. Further information on the concept note’s development process can be found on ECOM’s website.
ECOM’s Executive Director Vitaly Djuma submitting the concept note