Process to Better Engage Key Populations

Goal and Outcomes Results NASTAD’s goals for this project were to define  Key Informant Interviews and Focus Groups regulatory barriers to improving health access for Discussions conducted with key populations in key populations in Zambia—including commercial eight sites in Lusaka, Kitwe, Solwezi,, Kapiri- sex workers (CSW), men who have sex with men Mposhi, Livingstone, and Ndola (MSM), and injecting drug users (IDU)—and to help  Over 80 Key Informant Interviews conducted with develop strategies to improve outreach and health health care and civil society staff care access for the populations.

Strategy and Approach Used Summary of Outcomes and Impact NASTAD Zambia has provided technical assistance NASTAD Zambia and Population Council have to Zambia’s National AIDS Council (NAC) on issues implemented the formative assessment and size related to research with key populations. Due to estimation activities, conducting interviews and institutionalized stigma within some government focus groups with members of the different key units, progress towards investigating and population communities, as well as with health care understanding the needs of populations at greatest facility and civil society staff. These interviews will risk for HIV was limited. Leveraging its advocacy help define both the challenges faced by key experience, NASTAD helped the study group populations in accessing medical and prevention (NAC, Population Council, and others) obtain an services, as well as the training and capacity amnesty letter from the Ministry of Home Affairs building needs of clinical care staff in relation to and a support letter from the Drug Enforcement serving key populations. Commission which led to ethical approval to conduct a Formative Assessment of HIV Risk and NASTAD Zambia also facilitated and coordinated Size Estimation among Key Populations. the Key Populations Technical Working Group, led by NAC, which was instrumental in directly Products and Deliverables engaging members of key populations with  Report on Legal, Policy, and Socio-cultural government agencies. With this group, NASTAD Barriers to HIV-related Prevention, Care, Zambia led the process to write the first ever Key Treatment, and Support for Key Populations in Populations chapter for the Revised National AIDS Zambia Strategic Framework (R-NASF) 2014-2016, and contributed to the Country Coordinating  Lusaka Formative Assessment report Mechanism for Zambia Global Fund, ensuring a (Contributing Author, in collaboration with focus on key populations was included in proposed Population Council) scopes of work in the Global Fund application.  Key Populations chapter for the Revised This work was supported by the cooperative agreement #U2GGH000462 National AIDS Strategic Framework, 2014-2016 from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The (Contributing Author). contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the CDC.

National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors | Global Program: Policy and System