Oleksandr (name changed) is a displaced person from Luhansk region. After the full-scale invasion, he relocated to Dnipro. He is part of the community of people who use psychoactive substances and participates in an opioid substitution therapy (OST) program. Like many other internally displaced people, he struggled to adapt, find housing, and support himself.
But things worsened suddenly when he developed severe leg pain, likely from a fall. “I couldn’t stand. I thought my leg was broken,” he says.
An ambulance was called immediately, and Oleksandr was taken to a trauma center. X-rays showed no fracture, but his condition still left him unable to walk. He was denied hospitalization due to a lack of critical indicators.
Meanwhile, he found himself literally on the street. He hadn’t found permanent housing yet and had recently been staying with friends outside the city. He had also been denied a place in a shelter because of his OST status. “It was a Friday, and social services told me they couldn’t help — it was the end of the workday,” he recalls.
At that critical moment, a decision was made to provide him with the essentials: medication prescribed by the hospital, crutches for mobility, and a temporary stay at a hostel. “It was like a breath of air. Without it, I would’ve been stuck, alone and unable to move,” he says.
This short-term but crucial assistance allowed him to recover enough to begin looking for housing and sorting out other matters within a week.
This material was prepared as part of the VirusOFF Emergency Response Project supported by ViiV Healthcare Positive Action. The project has been operating since march 2022, providing emergency humanitarian and social support through the VirusOFF platform to representatives of HIV key populations and grassroots organizations. To date, more than 1,500 community members have already received assistance through the project.