National Institute for Health Development is participating in Joint Action on HIV and Co-infection Prevention and Harm Reduction (http://www.hareact.eu/en/about-ha-react ) that is co-funded from the Health Programme of the European Union.
This three-year action was launched in 2015 and is being implemented by 23 partners in 18 EU Member States. Beside Estonia partner organizations come from the following countries: Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain.
Twelve collaborating partners are contributing additional expertise, among them the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). HA-REACT is coordinated by the National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland.
The budget of the action is EUR 3.7 million, 80% is beng co-funded by the Health Programme of the European Union.
The main objective of the HA-REACT is to significantly contribute to the elimination of HIV and to reduction in new cases of TB and hepatitis C among people who inject drugs the European Union by 2020.
Activities focus particularly on Member States where there are obvious gaps in implementation of the harm reduction programmes, including testing and treatment for the key affected populations. Implementation of the HA-REACT activities is taking place primarily in three focus countries - Latvia, Lithuania and Hungary, the main key affected population are people who inject drugs.
In addition, joint action aims to improve harm reduction and testing services in prisons.
National Institute for Health Development participates the work package dedicated to improvement of integrated care. We are also contributing to partners’ efforts in providing trainings on tuberculosis screening and treatment.