Despite notable progress in HIV prevention efforts being taken by some governments in the region, most EECA countries are still struggling to achieve the 95-95-95 targets due to persistent barriers such as criminalization, stigma, discrimination, gender inequality and caused by these factors limited access to healthcare. The situation got worse after February 2022 because of the escalation of the Russia’s war against Ukraine which caused tectonic changes in the region, accelerating health-related challenges which existed before the war and also catalyzing new ones.

In this context – key regional key community networks, regional CBOs and national community leaders came together to organize the EECA Regional Space in a Global Village at AIDS 2024 – the 25th International AIDS Conference which took place in Munich, Germani, from 22 to 26 July 2024. EECA Regional Space was aimed to present on the HIV related work being conducted by civil society and communities in the region, on the successes and challenges being faced by them, and to discuss with international, regional and national partners the need for urgent measures and coordinated actions to be taken to effectively address HIV epidemic in the region.

Next regional partners and community networks became the co-organizers of the EECA Regional Space: Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (as a host of the EECA Regional Platform for Communication and Coordination), Alliance for Public Health, ECOM, ITPC EECA, Teenergizer, EWNA, ENPUD, REG, EKPC, HAC, SWAN, REG on migration and health, Eurasian movement on rights to health in prisons.

23 one-hour sessions took place in the EECA Regional Space during the days of the Conference, dozens of experts representing affected communities, civil society, technical partners, donors and government sector took part in them, hundreds of conference participants attended these sessions.

Two of the sessions were organized by the EECA Regional Platform for Communication and Coordination hosted by the EHRA.

Session “Global Fund Breaking Down Barriers Initiative in EECA: progress so far and next steps till the end of Gran Cycle 7” took place on 23.07. and gathered representatives of the AFEW Kyrgyzstan, Alliance for Public Health (Ukraine), 100% Life (Ukraine), Global Fund Secretariat and EHRA. The session was aimed to provide a brief overview of the BDB Initiative and its progress so far on the global level and inform its participants about the major successes, key challenges with implementation of BDB activities in countries and lessons learned so far.

On 24.07. a Community Dialogue with Vuyiseka Dubula, the Head of Community, Rights & Gender Department in the Global Fund Secretariat took place in the EECA Regional Space. The session was facilitated by Ganna Dovbakh, Executive Director of the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association. During the discussion the next topics were covered among others: key changes within the CRG Team; the CRG Department vision and strategic priorities for the 2024 – 2026 grant cycle; how could the CRG Department help with prioritization of CRG-focused interventions in country grants/funding requests in the context of shrinking funds and shrinking civic space.

EHRA and EECA Regional Platform would like to express its gratitude to all colleagues and partners who contributed to the organization of the EECA Regional Space and in particular – Alex Schneider and Life4MePlus for providing all the needed equipment to make the EECA Regional Space fully functional.