Past Projects » DFID Pakistan HIV/AIDS Prevention with Drug Harm Reduction

2002 – 2005

Although the general rate of HIV infections has remained relatively low for the general public in Pakistan, a major epidemic has been detected among injection drug users in Karachi, where 23 percent of users were found to be HIV positive in 2004, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. Experience has demonstrated that once HIV enters the injection drug-using population, rapid, large-scale epidemics within the general population can occur through sexual transmission.

The mandate of Futures Group’s Pakistan HIV/AIDS Prevention with Drug Harm Reduction project, funded by the U.K. Department for International Development, was to contract local nongovernmental organizations to provide quality drug harm reduction services in Pakistan’s four main cities: Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, and Quetta.

Working in collaboration with Pakistan’s National AIDS Control Program and Anti-Narcotics Force, Futures Group contracted local nongovernmental organizations to implement specific harm reduction activities and establish services and facilities for drug users. Interventions included needle exchange programs, HIV education, promotion of safe sex, and provision of basic medical and social services.

At the end of the project, the government of Pakistan took responsibility for maintaining the contracts (using funds supplied by the World Bank), thus ensuring that these essential services continue to be offered to drug users.