Study Tour on IDU Harm Reduction Organized in Jakarta

PRIMEX News

Study Tour on IDU Harm
Reduction Organized in Jakarta

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Posted on 3 December 2007

A study tour designed to distill lessons and observe tested models on HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and support among injecting drug users (IDUs) in Indonesia was organized for the key implementers and partners of ADB RETA 6321 – Subproject 5 last 23 – 30 November 2007.

Members of the PRIMEX-led Consultant Team, headed by Dr. Vic Salas, Team Leader/HIV Specialist, joined participants from the selected pilot project site — Zamboanga, and two other cities where interventions with IDUs are being carried out — Cebu City and General Santos City. Other participants were from the Department of Health (DOH), the TA implementing agency. The participants included city health officers, social hygiene clinic physicians, NGOs, a peer educator, and a law enforcement agency representative.

Indonesia was selected as the site for the study tour because of the following: (i) its variety of IDU harm reduction interventions, including substitution in prison; (ii) the number of international organizations and NGOs involved in IDU harm reduction interventions in the country; (iii) the similarity of its conditions (socioeconomic) to the Philippines; (iv) proximity to the Philippines and shared membership in ASEAN; (v) cheaper costs in organizing a study tour in Indonesia compared to other Asian countries; and (vi) existing partnership of PRIMEX with a local Indonesia firm (TIA) which could facilitate the tour.

The study tour participants met with officials from the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the National AIDS Council, and in the course of three days, visited nine agencies and projects, including government-supported methadone clinics and needle and syringe projects, NGO outreach activities, hospitals treating drug and alcohol dependents, and rehabilitation centers. An orientation on the basics of harm reduction was organized on the first day, and daily structured debriefings were organized by the team. A formal evaluation was also organized. The facilitated visit served as an excellent opportunity for fostering partnerships, building team spirit and collaboration in harm reduction, and developing linkages for future initiatives.

Learnings and experiences gained from the study tour are expected to help in the development of an evidence-based pilot/model harm reduction project for the Philippines, which will be undertaken in Zamboanga City in 2008. While Cebu and General Santos are not pilot sites for implementation, support has also been provided to these other cities to strengthen sentinel HIV and behavioral surveillance and build capacity of key government health staff to respond to the challenges of HIV in the marginalized IDU community.

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