Kyrgyzstan - Pioneers of Harm Reduction

A new film by the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union made in cooperation with Adilet, an NGO in Kyrgyzstan. The films show how the Kyrgyz Republic successfully reacted to the HIV epidemic with implementing Harm reduction measures in time.

The Kyrgyz Republic in Central Asia is situated on a drug trafficking route. According to official estimations the number of drug users is not more than 8.000 (probably an underestimation), but other experts put it much higher, to 80-100 thousand (probably an exageration) - a more realistic number is the estimation made by the UNODC, which is 20-30.000 people who use illicit drugs in the whole country. As most of them use drugs intravenously, the country found itself with a severe HIV epidemic. Kyrgyzstan has been the first in the region to introduce science and evidence based harm reduction strategies, like needle and syringe exchange programs and methadone maintenance therapy. This film documents how these strategies proved to be successful in curbing the HIV epidemic in the country. We produced this movie in order to highlight the contrast between the development of drug policy in countries with very similar background: the Russian Federation (where we made a movie about why methadone maintenance is illegal) and Kyrgyzstan, where methadone and steril syringes are even available for prisoners.

Kyrgyzstan - Pioneers of Harm Reduction from Hungarian Civil Liberties Union on Vimeo.

The film is in Russian language, with english subtitles.

Кыргызстан - пионер в области снижения вреда

Кыргызская Республика находится в Центральной Азии, через которую проходит основной наркотрафик. Рост эпидемии ВИЧ в Кыргызстане значительно высок, поскольку здесь насчитывается от 80 до 100 тысяч наркопотребителей, большую часть которых составляют инъекционные потребители наркотиков. Кыргызстан - первая страна в регионе, использующая стратегии в области снижения вреда, а именно программы обмена игл, шприцев, заместительной терапии метадоном. Данный фильм дает подтверждение тому, как внедренные стратегии успешно способствуют сдерживанию роста эпидемии ВИЧ в стране.

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István Gábor Takács

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