The Global Fund to Fight Tuberculosis and Malaria AIDS, as part of the “Removing Barriers to Access” initiative, published reports on the situation for 2023 in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.
The Removing Barriers to Access initiative aims to support countries in scaling up programs and removing human rights-related barriers to accessing HIV, tuberculosis and malaria services. These activities improve the effectiveness of Global Fund grants. In the EECA region, this Initiative is being implemented in two countries: Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine.
The Kyrgyzstan Midterm Assessment presents the results of work carried out between the 2020 midterm assessment and July 2023, which coincides with but does not correspond to the duration of the Global Fund’s Cycle 6 (GC6) grant, which was implemented between January 2021 to December 2023.
Since the Mid-Term Evaluation, Kyrgyzstan has made progress in expanding and improving the quality of programs to address human rights barriers, as well as in creating an enabling environment for removing such barriers. In 2022, the Ministries of Health, Internal Affairs and Justice of Kyrgyzstan “Assessing Progress” jointly adopted the Interministerial Action Plan to overcome legal barriers to the provision of HIV and tuberculosis services in Kyrgyzstan for 2022-2025, which obliges the ministries to coordinate efforts of government departments with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and key and vulnerable populations to reform harmful laws and policies and build the capacity of government agencies and institutions, and to provide public funding to improve access of key and vulnerable populations to HIV and TB services. In February 2023, the Ministry of Health created a Working Group to monitor the implementation of the Interdepartmental Plan. 1 Since 2020, programs to reduce stigma and discrimination, improve legal literacy and access to legal aid, and community-led monitoring (CLM) have expanded and become somewhat more sustainable with support from government agencies and institutions. Access to free legal aid is expected to further expand as, thanks to advocacy efforts carried out through the Breaking Barriers Initiative, Kyrgyzstan passed a new State Guaranteed Legal Aid law in August 2022 that provides formal recognition of paralegals as providers. advisory legal assistance.
The Global Fund assessed the situation in Ukraine from the moment of the full-scale invasion until the beginning of 2023. This evaluation was part of a Global Fund grant under Grant Cycle 6 (GC6). The results provide a better understanding of how military action affected the implementation of programs and what challenges have arisen in the field of health.
The first few weeks after the invasion were chaotic as human rights implementers responded to rapidly growing emergency needs. Faced with the overwhelming humanitarian needs of their clients, these organizations sought to help their communities in any way they could. Some organizations actively helped communities located near the front line or in occupied territories to migrate to safety. However, within a few weeks, these organizations began implementing human rights programs again, although these programs often had to be modified. Despite extremely challenging circumstances and some reprogramming, implementers were able to continue implementing most of the programs, making various adaptations to meet the most pressing needs of their clients, demonstrating both the commitment of these implementers and the sustainability of their programs.