WP7 is organising a study trip to Portugal 27-31 May. The delegation from Estonia will visit Lisbon as part of the European project “Joint Action on HIV and Co-Infection Prevention and Harm Reduction” (HA-REACT).
In order to improve availability of harm reduction services, two mobile outreach units will be launched in Estonia in 2018. The mobile outreach units, based in customised buses, will provide integrated harm reduction services (needle exchange, rapid HIV testing, counseling etc.) for PWID– in Estonia's capital city area and North-Eastern region where injecting drug use is the most problematic. The implementation of mobile outreach unit in Estonia offers opportunities to reach high risk individuals and engage them in drug prevention and treatment.
The aim of this study trip is to empower the participants with adequate knowledge and skills about mobile units work and also consider initiating similar activities in Estonia. Delegation is interested to see how organisations in Portugal have structured their work and what are their (organisational and technical) strategies for implementing mobile outreach work are. Participants will visit different drug dependency rehabilitation centers, supervised drug consumption centers, and mobile methadone dispensation units.