The largest ever project, designed to minimise the risks of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) transmission among the injecting drug users (IDUs) in the country, will shortly be launched in 24 selected districts of Sindh and Punjab.
Under the five-year project financed by the Global Fund, a comprehensive package of HIV prevention and harm reduction services will be made available to 28000 IDUs – almost one third of their estimated number in Pakistan, said a press release on Saturday.
The programme will be launched by Nai Zindagi Trust with the funding of Tuberculosis and Malariais, an international financing institution.
The National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) and Nai Zindagi Trust are the principal recipients of 43 million US dollars HIV grant for Pakistan aimed at scaling up harm reduction services to IDUs and their partners.