On August 8, 2023, a working meeting was held in Petropavlovsk with specialists from the AIDS Center, the Mental Health Center and primary health centers. The main issue of which was to increase the coverage of PWID (injecting drug users) screening for antibodies to HIV. 

The meeting participants discussed the current HIV epidemic situation

and the drug situation in the North Kazakhstan region, problematic issues and developed tactics for solving urgent problems.

A decision was made in which instructions were given to each organization. Including offering voluntary and confidential testing for the presence of HIV infection in persons with suspected injecting psychoactive substances delivered for medical examination to the examination room for alcohol and drug intoxication.

Specialists of the epidemiological department and the laboratory of the AIDS Center will provide advice to the specialists of the Mental Health Centers on the prevention of HIV infection among PWID. They will also continue to monitor HIV testing of PWID upon registration and every 6 months.

These measures will contribute to the achievement of the indicator testing coverage of PWID in the third quarter of 2023 to 72%, at the end of the year - 95%.