The OSI International Harm Reduction Development Program publishes periodic newsflashes highlighting recent developments in international efforts to reduce harms associated with drug use.

Today Minister of Health Yuri Gaydayev signed an order to define procedures for introducing methadone, a medication used to treat opiate addiction, in Ukraine. This order marks the next step in Ukraine's progress toward greater access to substitution treatment for those who inject opiates.

The order follows up on the May 15 order, signed by the Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Issues Dmitro Tabachnik, authorizing the Ministry of Health to meet all the requirements of 6th round grant of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, including a scale-up of methadone treatment.

These two orders fulfill the decision taken by Ukraine's National Coordination Council on HIV/AIDS in April 2007 to implement the Global Fund conditions. The distribution of methadone will help Ukraine meet the targets set by the Round 6 Proposal to provide substitution treatment for up to 11,000 intravenous drug users by 2011. Although buprenorphine has been available in Ukraine since 2004, use of the less expensive methadone tablets and solution will allow expanded reach for substitution treatment. Plans call for pilot methadone programs in 41 sites in 8 regions of Ukraine for 2,500 people, with a total of 3,500 patients receiving methadone treatment by the end of 2007. The first methadone is due to arrive in Ukraine by the end of summer, and service providers hope that the medication will reach patients soon thereafter.

Ukraine has the highest rate of HIV infection in Europe, and the Ukrainian National AIDS Center has said that intravenous drug users make up 65% of all HIV cases in the country.

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For more information please contact Konstantin Lezhentsev, Klezhentsev@gmail.com, +38 067 693 4475, or Elizabeth Eagen, eeagen@osi.hu, +36 1 327 3100 x 2484.

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