Living outside of her country during the COVID-19 pandemic, Aina* was afraid to seek medical care when her health began to deteriorate. After being terrorized by an abusive ex who used her HIV-positive status to threaten her, Aina feared that health services might not be confidential, and that the persecution she had fled might catch up with her again as a result.

Then she happened upon the Facebook page of the Eurasian Women’s Network on AIDS (EWNA), which had just launched a dedicated hotline, ART Help, with support from UNFPA’s Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia to help people living with HIV and key populations who have difficulties receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) and reproductive health and gender-based violence counselling and services due to the pandemic.

Read Aina’s full story on the EWNA website.

* Name changed for protection and privacy.