Friendly offices: information and assistance

January 20, 2025

On January 16, employees of the AIDS Center in Almaty held a meeting with colleagues from the city's Skin and Venereological dispensary (CVD) and friendly offices (DC) to summarize the results of their joint work for 2024. The meeting was attended by outreach workers.

The participants noted that today there are 10 trust points in the city to increase HIV prevention among key population groups. According to the "Harm Reduction" program, friendly offices are operating in polyclinic 9, the GKVD and the AIDS Center in Almaty. They provide patients from key groups with free information about HIV infection, STIs, behaviors that reduce the risk of HIV infection, and testing. Applicants are provided with condoms, information materials, and can take an express HIV test. If necessary, people are sent to a skin and venereological clinic.

Positive trends in 2024 include an increase in HIV testing among sex workers and men who have sex with men (MSM), as well as an increase in the number of STIs treated in key groups of MSM and people who inject drugs.

Another positive example is in the work of friendly classrooms at HC AIDS and GP 9. The distribution of condoms has increased here, and the number of representatives of key groups has been visited and tested. People from all KGN show interest in pre-exposure prophylaxis. The country has simplified registration for those who wish to take PREP: only a negative HIV test result and HIV symptom screening are required.

The meeting participants identified joint priorities for the current year. Among them: to provide rapid HIV testing to representatives of all KGN, to continue to intensify work on pre–exposure prevention.

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