KHOROG, March 15, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- The first edition of a new newspaper entitled Hayot (Life) was brought out in Khorog, the capital of Gorno Badakhshan on March 14.

The Hayot editor Amon Mardonov told Asia-Plus that the newspaper was founded by the Coordination Council to Fight AIDS/HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Gorno Badakhshan.

The newspaper is published in the framework of the Pamir against AIDS: HIV Prevention & Care in GBAO under financial support of the AIDS Foundation East-West (AFEW).         

“The newspaper will publish mainly materials related to problems of spread of AIDS/HIV, tuberculosis, drug addiction and alcoholism in the region and propagation of the healthy lifestyle,” Mardonov said.

According to him, “the newspaper is published by efforts of employees of a Training Resource Center (TRC) located at the GBAO AIDS Center.”  The eight-page Hayot will be published once a month with a circulation of 800 copies and will be distributed free of charge, the editor said.

Initiated by the AFEW, the Pamir against AIDS: HIV Prevention & Care in GBAO seeks to effectively address the growing HIV epidemic among vulnerable populations (that is, injecting drug users and highly vulnerable women, including sex workers), as well as aims to support those individuals already living with HIV through building local capacity of service providers in the region.  The focus is on involving all sectors of society in building a client-centered continuum of care that includes prevention, treatment and support.

The AFEW website says that to-date, AFEW has facilitated and supported the creation of a voluntary counseling and testing center and the TRC at the GBAO AIDS Center.  The TRC provides technical assistance to local partners on conducting training and informational sessions for specialists.  Finally, a large-scale social referral network has been put in place, bringing together 26 local service providers from the spheres of harm reduction, public health, legal and psycho-social support.  All members are linked to the Client Management Monitoring System, which provides centralized information about each client’s requirements and use of services.  The network also hosts seminars on capacity and sustainability issues for local service providers and members.