In addition, the network of people who live with HIV (APLHIV) in Pakistan implements some innovative work related to community building and meaningful involvement with the support of Mainline in 2017.

Throughout the Bridging the Gaps 2 programme, Mainline aims to pilot new interventions; disseminate successful results to other countries, key populations and partners as well as work to further innovate the harm reduction field.

Nai Zindagi, Pakistan was established in 1989 by a group of personally affected individuals. Nai Zindagi aims to provide a range of rights- and needs-based services to marginalised people who use drugs and those associated, in particular their spouses/sexual partners and families. Their goal is to prevent the transmission of HIV, reduce drug use related harms/risks and provide opportunities for socio-economic rehabilitation. They do this on evidence-based, contextual and cultural targeted innovations in close consultation with their beneficiaries.

With support from the Global Fund, Nai Zindagi currently is the largest nationwide NGO to prevent HIV among people who inject drugs. Mainline has a proud partnership with Nai Zindagi that started in 2006.

The strength of the Nai Zindagi
Mainline collaboration lies in the combined knowledge on drug use, harm reduction, HIV and other blood-borne infections, human rights, local/national advocacy and the logistics behind harm reduction programming. Nai Zindagi adds a unique capacity to monitor services (M&E) through their real-time data management information system (MIS). This system allows data collection on a level that is unseen in the world of harm reduction.

The unique professional developments that have taken place within Nai Zindagi over the years, their track record to learn and improve and their ability to pilot new interventions and structurally measure results makes them Mainline’s main innovation partner under the Bridging the Gaps 2 programme.

In the past, successful pilots have been scaled-up though support of other donors such as the Global Fund grants. An example is the ART Adherence Unit (AAU). The AAU allowed HIV+ drug users to detox and be initiated on ARVs. The project was initially financed by Mainline as a pilot under Bridging the Gaps and was later taken over by Global Fund and duplicated in capacity.

The next step is to strategise the broader implementation of successful elements in other countries and for other key populations, e.g. for Men who have sex with Men (MSM) and sex workers.

Read more about Nai Zindagi

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Country Manager for Pakistan: Nick Veldwijk

APLHIV Pakistan
The Association of People Living with HIV (APLHIV), Pakistan is a nationwide network of People Living with HIV, affected by HIV and associated Key Populations. The APLHIV was commissioned formally in 2008 in response to the absence of an appropriate platform to voice and address the human rights issues of PLHIV and other associated populations/people and to provide them with improved quality of life and dignity.

Under the umbrella of The Association of People Living with HIV (APLHIV), People Who Use Drugs (PWUD) has united itself in a semi-independent network called Drug User’s NEtwork (DUNE). The innovative role DUNE plays in Pakistan will be used as an example to meaningfully include PWUD in service delivery and policymaking. 

More information about the APLHIV