The UNDP / Global Fund project distributed 2577 food packages to people living with HIV, TB patients and community members most in need and in difficult life situations. The project is also supporting nutrition in centers and shelters for community members to ensure they have a safe place to stay in and good nutrition during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic and the financial difficulties it has brought along have strongly impacted people living with HIV, TB patients and vulnerable members of key population groups, therefore increasing the need for shelters and social support.

“UNDP is helping us feed 10 people living in our shelter,” says Sergey Bessonov, director of the “Harm Reduction Network” Association and the shelter for people who inject drugs. “With the new pandemic and the lockdown, some people who had daily jobs and lived in hostels on a day-to-day basis started losing their jobs and the roof over their heads. We welcomed them in our shelter, but we had no source of funding at the time. UNDP’s help is very significant. Our clients have the possibility to eat well, which is especially important now to stay healthy. If it weren’t for these kind of shelters, they would be at risk of being arrested, because people need to live somewhere, they need to eat something and if they’re out on the streets they would possibly resort to crimes.” 

UNDP distributed the first 1032 food packages in October and another 1545 packages in early December. Each package includes around 15kg of groceries (different types of grains, pasta, flour, sugar, oil, tea, etc.). Beneficiaries were selected by NGOs, among clients most in need within the HIV and TB programs.

This help is distributed within the framework of the additional Covid-19 response mechanism grant from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (CRM19). It aims to mitigate the negative impact of the new pandemic on HIV and TB programs and ensure a continuity of prevention, diagnostic and treatment services, regardless of the difficulties caused by Covid-19.