About the Fund
The St. Petersburg charitable organisation for medical social programmes, Humanitarian Action is one of the largest and oldest organisations of its kind in St. Petersburg. It provides comprehensive medical, social and psychological care, as well as legal advice, to homeless and underprivileged children and teenagers, drug users, female sex workers and HIV- positive individuals. The main area of our work is HIV prevention amongst these high-risk groups.
Humanitarian Action was officially created in July 2001, when it became independent from the French international humanitarian organisation «Medicins du Monde,» which started medical and social programmes in St. Petersburg in 1995, including the programme «Street Children of St. Petersburg».
In 1997, the ‘Harm Reduction’ programme for HIV prevention among drug users was founded. A ‘Harm Reduction’ programme specifically for female sex workers was started in 2001. In 2003, in connection with the opening of the Center for Prevention of HIV/AIDS and other Socially Significant Diseases, Humanitarian Action started working in partnership with the Botkin Memorial Hospital for Infectious Diseases and the programme «Access to Medical Care for Injecting Drug Users and Sex Workers” was founded.
In 2006, «the Case Management Service» became a programme particular to our organisation.
In our work, we strive to assist the most vulnerable members of society (those who are unable to support themselves due to their financial circumstances and social isolation) by helping them realise their legal rights. The employees of Humanitarian Action prioritise motivating their clients to change their behaviour and increase their quality of life. In doing so, we are always tolerant, understanding and non-judgemental of our clients.
Humanitarian Action’s guiding principle is ‘Back to Basics’ which means simplifying everything for the clients as much as we can, so they have the easiest possible access to our services and to others available to them. Our goal is not to replace existing governmental structures, but to act as the bridge between the vulnerable members of society and the structures t already in place to help them. Collaboration with other governmental and Non-governmental organisations is one of the main aims of Humanitarian Action, as this sort of work would be impossible without our combined efforts. 
For our active participation in the fight against HIV/AIDS and our work towards the Protection of Human Rights, Humanitarian Action received an international award from the Canadian Organisation Human Rights Watch in 2005.
Our Mission
Our mission is to decrease the transmission rate of HIV and other socially significant diseases, to provide access to specialist medical, social and psychological care, and to help vulnerable individuals integrate into society, especially those living with HIV/AIDS, homeless and underprivileged children and teenagers, injecting drug users, female sex workers and those at risk of human trafficking, violence and discrimination.
Main Areas of Fund Activities
- The prevention of HIV/AIDS and other socially significant diseases.
- To assist our target groups in accessing medical, psychological, legal and social aid.
- Training specialists from governmental and nongovernmental organizations in approaches to work with target groups.
Our Target Groups
- HIV-positive individuals.
- Homeless and neglected children and teenagers.
- Injecting drug users.
- Female sex workers and their partners.
- Specialists from governmental and Non-governmental organisations.
