Gay, bisexual men, and transgander people now have an opportunity to undergo HIV testing in community-based organizations in 16 cities of Russia. We discussed this news with Evgeny Pisemsky, who is in charge of general project coordination at «Phoenix PLUS» NGO, based in Orel, Russia.
Campaign poster. Capture: You risk, if you don't know. Take a test!
Tell us about the project – who's working on it and why do we need this?
It's not actually a single project, but a complex initiative, supported by the Global Fund (and AHF in one city).
9 LGBT organizations in Russia are running community-based testing for the very first time. It used to be the case that LGBT people had little involvement with community prevention work, as it was mostly service organizations carrying out such activities.
Why is it that GBT people can’t just undergo testing using existing opportunities and why is community-based testing more effective?
It’s clear that having more opportunities provides greater coverage. In order to reach the 90-90-90 goals, we have to create more opportunities for HIV testing. The less obstacles we have, the closer we will get to achieving one of the goals, of having 90% of people knowing their HIV status.
Are there any other services for those wishing to undergo testing (i.e. counseling, linkage to treatment)?
All 16 projects have pre- and post-test counseling, and are also able to accompany clients to AIDS centers.
This is the minimum level of services offered to everyone, the rest depends on capacity of individual organizations. For instance, there are support gruops for HIV positive gay men in Moscow, St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and Krasnoyarsk. There are also transgender support groups in Moscow and St Petersburg. Most of the projects organize seminars on HIV for LGBT people, and also offer psychological support services.
How do projects engage with trans*populations?
“Action” (St Petersburg) and “T9 NSK) (Novosibirsk) plan to implement testing just for trans*people. “LaSky” initiative of Moscow also intends to work closely with the trans*community. Testing results will be used to in fill gaps in the poor, existing data on trans*populations in the EECA region.
What can be done by ECOM to make testing quality and coverage better in EECA?
Post-Soviet states have similar situations regarding HIV prevalence, including among MSM. I am convinced that ECOM can take a leading role in unifying testing approaches and preparing guides for commiunity-led testing. In addition, we must promote better funding opportunities for organizations in the EECA region to carry out testing programmes.
We rarely use regional experience and are often unaware of prevention programs in neighbouring countries. It is important that we promote the sharing of experiences across the region and it is within ECOM’s power to do so.
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