UHRN have prepared a comprehensive summary to detail their great work in 2016 including some of the challenges they faced doing this important work.
Please read the full report for more details: UHRN ANNUAL REPORT 2016
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Dear friends and partners, warm greetings from Uganda Harm Reduction Network (UHRN) and thank you for supporting us to make a positive impact on many lives of drug users in 2016. This report presents our achievements, challenges, lessons learnt during 2016 as well as our plans for the future. In the year 2016, we embarked on making the legal environment conducive for Harm reduction activities in Uganda with a Global Fund Regional fund;- “HIV and Harm Reduction Project”. We successfully engaged and sensitised the communities of people who use and inject drugs, law enforcement officers, Ministry of Health, Uganda AIDS Commission, CSO‟s and CBO‟s on the relevance of having a conducive environment for Harm Reduction activities in Uganda.
In 2016 Uganda Harm Reduction Network (UHRN) implemented few field activities but also focused on internal systems reviews and strengthening to improve its HIV and Harm Reduction programing. With the Regional Global Fund resources, UHRN conducted staff recruitment for the Program Manager, the HR/Finance officer, 3 programs officers, Community Systems Strengthening Officer, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Addiction Counsellor and Office Administrator and secured a decent office space located in Makindye.
UHRN conducted 9 community engagement meetings in Mbale (2), Gulu (1), Mbarara (1) and Kampala (5), reached 5 opinion leaders who publicly support Harm Reduction;- Ministry of Health_ACP, UAC, Law enforcement Antinarcotics Department Police. From these engagements, UHRN has reached 315 injecting drug users, disseminated 8300 male condoms and distributed 1341 IEC materials in form of posters, fact sheets, stickers and banners and a documentary where PWUIDs air out their concerns. More so, 3 advocacy campaigns; – Support Don‟t Punish Campaign a global advocacy campaign that raises awareness of the harms being caused by the war on drugs, Routine Viral Load Testing campaign aimed at increasing knowledge and skills on how PLHIV can live a positive and developmental life, Harm Reduction Works campaign with the aim of changing attitude amongst policy makers and other duty bearers to embrace & promote harm reduction interventions (NSP & MAT) and efforts to address PWID‟s stigma and discrimination in Uganda.
UHRN submitted an abstract to the AIDS 2016 Conference in Durban which was accepted and 2 staffs attended the conference and had a poster presentation titled “Community Mobilisation and Organising for people who use drugs in Uganda” a model used by Uganda Harm Reduction Network during mobilization of drug users to access health services or for any community engagement.
As this report is being written police harassment and arrests, social stigma and discrimination remain a great challenge in reaching out to drug users with services amidst the uncertain legal and political atmosphere in the country. Nonetheless we recommend, policy makers, law enforcement officers, CBO‟s CSO‟s and other relevant stakeholders to advocate for government and its relevant agencies to embrace harm reduction interventions in the country as this will foster health service delivery to drug users in Uganda without discrimination in the fight of HIV/AIDS.
Read the full report: UHRN ANNUAL REPORT 2016
Wamala Twaibu
Executive Director