Harm reduction services in mobile app

People who inject drugs (PWID) in Indonesia experience multiple forms of stigma. Drug users are negatively judged and health care providers discriminate against them, resulting in a high drop-out rate from services. There is no official data for drop-out rates for PWID, but anecdotal evidence suggests it is high due to hostile service environments, lack of tailored services, poor linkages between harm reduction and HIV services, and lack of community-based care and support.

According a 2016 Ministry of Health size estimation, there are 33,492 PWID in Indonesia. Very little data exists on those enrolled in harm reduction services as they are provided by various actors. This often requires PWID to move from one facility to another to access different services, causing them to go through multiple administrative processes.

The Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) is funding ‘KLIK’ — a pilot project in four cities — Medan, Bandung, Pontianak and Makassar — bringing all harm reduction services onto one platform that can be accessed by PWID using a mobile application. Biomedical, behavioural and structural services can be managed in a single dashboard by EJAF implementing partners, while service providers can respond to requests in real-time. Peer outreach workers support PWID to access services through the platform, including HIV testing, antiretroviral treatment, and other comorbidity treatments, such as HCB, HCV, and tuberculosis, together with all nine harm reduction services This innovative model is linking PWID to comprehensive services along the HIV continuum and is the first of its kind in Indonesia. Four sites and community-run one-stop services centres are supporting 3,000 people who use drugs.