Psychological and social support to HIV infected women in Leningrad Oblast

The purpose of this project was to increase the capacity of specialists and the service system to give psychological and social support to HIV positive women in Leningrad oblast to increase the adaptation of HIV positive women and their families into society, to reduce stigma, to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV and to reduce the abandonment of children. The project started with the assessment needs of the HIV positive women and based on the assessment, working methods of psychological and social support were developed and tested and specialists trained. The activities were carried out by the Leningrad Oblast AIDS-Centre. The project was financed by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.