“Reducing Intersectional and HIV Stigma among Women at Risk in Kazakhstan” (2023-2025)

  Project Orleu is a Fogarty-funded study for women engaged in commercial sex and drug use in Kazakhstan. The project aims to reduce intersectional and HIV stigma to increase women’s involvement in HIV prevention. The project will develop and evaluate an innovative, multilevel anti-stigma intervention targeting medical organizations, using evidence-based approaches. The first project component includes a National Women’s Contest to development stigma reduction content . Materials of the contest will be used to develop and adapt training for medical workers of friendly clinics and AIDS centers. The first phase of the project is implemented at the national level, the intervention will be tested in the city of Almaty. The project is supported by the Kazakh Scientific Center of Dermatology and Infectious Diseases, the Center for AIDS Prevention and Control in Almaty and local NGOs. Leading Kazakhstani and international researchers are involved in the project.