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Government Of Assam Health & Family Welfare Assam State AIDS Control Society

Home ❯ Schemes ❯ Project Sunrise

Project Sunrise

  • Background:

    Under the CDC-funded Project Sunrise, FHI 360 aims to enhance institutional and human capacity to accelerate HIV/AIDS response and scale-up and strengthen the quality of the comprehensive package of services primarily for People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) in the eight North East states. Based on North East strategy, Assam State AIDS Control Society (ASACS) in consultation with National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) and FHI 360 has developed a state level implementation plan for Assam in achieving the different activities under the Project Sunrise.

    Goal: To build institutional and human capacity to improve and scale-up the quality of comprehensive package of services for people who inject drugs in NE region of India.

    Strategies:

    • Assess the programmatic gaps and barriers.
    • Enhance capacity of state level institutions.
    • Improve the quality of PWID package of services through training of harm reduction workforce.
    • Implement lower threshold service strategy.
    • Establish Real Time Monitoring System.
    • Implement HIV interventions in prison settings.
    • Improve coverage of female PWID and spouses of PWID.
    • Establish an Implementation Science agenda.
    • Scale up Methadone program.
    • Strengthen the linkages with other health and social welfare institutions.
    • Enhance the current monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system.

    Value Addition of Project Sunrise:

    Funding commitment for Project Sunrise by CDC is for five years i.e. 2015 to 2020, during which period, CDC and FHI 360 will support NACO and SACS to accelerate the organization and delivery of quality HIV and AIDS services for PWID populations including FPWID and Spouses of PWID, in the NE region through the below:

    • Greater emphasis on using granular site level data to better inform program interventions.
    • Lower threshold interventions on N/S distribution and use.
    • Lower threshold interventions on OST (take home dosing, task shifting and flexi-timings).
    • Establishment of a real-time data capturing and program monitoring software solution to automate flow of information in near real time at site, district, state and national level to enable timely review and gap filling.
    • Support community-based HIV testing approaches to scale-up HIV testing among PWID population.
    • Support the roll-out of the test and treat approach for PWID population and demonstrate the 90:90:90 approach.
    • Strengthen community engagement through collaboration with faith-based and community-based organizations for facilitating access to services.
    • Create a supportive environment to enable PWIDs to access harm reduction services by collaborating with legal and law enforcement agencies.
    • Develop guidelines and tools in implementing lower threshold interventions (take home dosing, task shifting), real time monitoring, Test and Treat models.
    • Support program data analytics for KPs; and build capacity of NACO, SACS, TI NGOs and other stakeholders in data use in programming.

    Develop training modules and conduct trainings for enhancing the capacity of the harm reduction force including SACS and NACO for scaling-up the response in high burden locations in the country

    Brief update on the various activities being undertaken in Assam is given below:

    1. Lower threshold initiatives such as Secondary Distribution of Needle & Syringes (SDNS):
    Till Mar'17 3 Nos. of SDNS outlets have been functioning in Assam in NTO and 1 in Government Set – up on pilot basis. And process has been initiated to roll out the same in the Govt. Medical set up. SDNS in the Kamrup district will be roll out within Aug 17.

    2. Strengthening the partnership between law enforcement, health and NGO/CBO in the context of drug use and HIV:
    i) Formation of State level working committee on prison HIV and law enforcement has been initiated during the launching of Prison Intervention Plan in the month of Jan 17.
    ii) Project Sunrise conducted a State Level Consultation on Harm Reduction and HIV/AIDS with Law Enforcement Agencies in Assam which was attended by around 70 participants with representation from Assam Police, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Prisons etc. held in the Assam Police Headquarters on 19th Dec 2016.

    Way forward and summarizing the key learning:

    • Mr. Moni Barauh DIG Prison agreed to provide space for 4 staff for the Prison program as requested by EHA representative Dr. Rebecca Sinate.
    • Tot for law enforcement officials on HIV and harm reduction services in the basic training.
    • Basic Training through the existing the training and exposure visit (half a day) HIV and other related issues like alcohol, drugs, etc.
    • Sensitize the senior officials of Law Enforcement Agencies on HIV and Harm Reduction for creating enabling environment for Targeted HIV Prevention, Care and Support Interventions among key affected population
    • ADG of police as Nodal Officer at state and SP at district level from the Police.
    • Develop a mechanism for formalizing a partnership with LEAs (Drafting of an MoU)
    • Form a joint working group with law enforcement agencies at state level to monitor, review and advise key stakeholders including government on strengthening activities of law enforcement agencies in the context of drug use and HIV (preferably with decision making authority)
    • Policy level decision for drug users a mechanism for addressing issue where one position (one police officer) identified as initial counselor.
    • Guwahati Police station as Model Police Station of Assam.
    • Support from student community e.g. MSW, Sociology, Medical Students, psychology, (TISS), etc.

    Photographs of the State Level Consultation Meeting:


    3. Capacity building under Project Sunrise:

    i) The training on monitoring and evaluation, data analysis and data use for program for the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) staff of TI NGOs of Assam was conducted in the month of Oct 16 & Nov 16. Total number of participants was 51 out of that 4 Female and 47 Male. i.e.

    ii) The regional ToT on New ICTC Guideline and CBHT for ICTC Counselors District ICTC Supervisors (DIS) were conducted in 3 batches in Guwahati from 8-10 Nov 2016 where total number of participants was 136 out of that 68 Female and 68 Male which includes 25 nos. of counselors from facilities of ASACS have attended with the support of NACO (BSD), SACS & FHI360.

    iii) The training on Programme Management and Counseling module for the TI partners under Assam SACs have been completed in the month of May 17 – June 17.

    iv) Planning for imparting training to grass root level staffs of TI under ASACS have been targeted to complete by within Aug 17.

    4. Forming of District level HIV/AIDS Monitoring Team in priority districts has been initiated.

    5. Prison Intervention in Assam: Prison Intervention Project in the Central Jail, Kamrup has been initiated with the support of implementing agency EHA with the support of NACO, SACS and FHI360.

     

    6. District Level Coordination (DCM) meeting are being held regularly in the priority districts viz. Dima Hasao, Karbi Anglong, Cachar and Kamrup as per the follow-up of the NE review meeting held in the month of Jul 16 to strengthen the coordination among different stakeholders such as Targeted Interventions (TIs), NETSU, ASACS and district health administration.

    7. State Oversight Committee formed on 23rd Jun 16 to see the overall progress of the innovations supported by Project Sunrise to scale up the HIV intervention programme in the state.

    8. Lots of activities with the help of IEC & Mainstreaming division of Assam SACS is being plan to do in the coming days.