Can they really hear us?

“Our task is to keep people on therapy so that none of our clients stop taking drugs during the coronavirus pandemic. I myself went through all the stages and I know firsthand how difficult it is when you just have nothing to feed the children with. Only a person who has gone through this can understand all the needs of communities. When your children have nothing to eat, then you absolutely do not care about taking drugs. "
Baktygul Shukurova Country Network Coordinator for Women Living with HIV
Many people call us in despair, women cry, ask for help. Of course, we help everyone we can, but our resources are not unlimited. When we, together with the Country Network of Women with HIV and my spouse, compiled lists, it turned out that 12 women living in our city are in extremely distress. Some of them have recently become mothers or raise children alone. Yesterday we handed out grocery sets, and some women could not believe that they brought food. “Has anyone heard us?” They asked me.
Umid Shukurov Director of Public Foundation “Believe in Yourself”

Problem

Due to the situation with coronavirus in Bishkek, Osh, Jalal-Abad and three districts, the state of emergency has been operating since March 25. Citizens residing in these territories are strictly forbidden to be on the street during curfew hours  from 20:00 to 7:00. In the daytime it is allowed to leave the house only to a store, pharmacy or health  facility. You need to have a passport and a route sheet with you. An emergency mode has been introduced in the rest of the country.

Communities of people living with HIV, like other citizens of the country, faced various problems, among them the loss of daily income and the inability to feed their families.

Solution

Local family medicine centers, together with NGO staff, compiled lists of such families across the country. It was decided to find financing to provide such families with special kits. In addition to basic products, the set also includes coloring books, felt-tip pens and watercolors for children of people living with HIV, which are designed to minimize the mental consequences of quarantine. Such minimal assistance helps maintain adherence to ARV treatment, people will not refuse therapy, since they will have basic food needs for a period of lack of earnings.

Result

The UNAIDS Country Office in Kyrgyzstan, with the support of the Russian program of technical assistance to countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia in the fight against HIV / AIDS and other infectious diseases, will organize delivery of food packages for 130 PLHIV families most affected by the loss of daily income over the next 3 months.