Humanitarian Action St-Petersburg NGO for Medical and Social Programmes

This programme was launched in 1995 by an initiative of the International Humanitarian Organization Medicines du Monde (France).

Program coordinator: Tatiana Drozdova

Program Goal
Prevention of HIV and other socially significant diseases among «street» children and adolescents, as well as providing access to health services, social, psychological and legal assistance.
Target group:
Homeless and neglected children and teenagers, as well as their family members.
How it works: The program is founded on a multidisciplinary approach to care. It involves the combined efforts of specialists from various fields – health and social workers, lawyers, teachers, and program volunteers.
Components of the program:

• Social work (outreach) – work on the street in places with high concentrations of «street» children, adolescents and young people. Monitoring, the initial assessment of needs, motivational advice, information on the types and locations for assistance, dissemination of information and prevention literature, adapted to these various ages groups.
• “Center for Medical, Psychological and Social Assistance”- a place where one can receive personal advice and information on medical, social and psychological issues, educational activities, as well as undergo sanitary and hygienic processing.
• Individual medical social and psychological support (case management) – assistance in obtaining comprehensive care in accordance with a specially developed plan based on the individual’s specific problems and needs.
• Mobile School – access to general educational resources (such as reading, writing, mathematics, etc…). Here street children/adolescents and young people can attempt to finish their general education. Services offered include specially adapted individual tutoring and teaching in small groups.

Methods of work:

• Establishing contact and developing trusting relationships with street children (outreach).
• Informing children, adolescents and young people through the dissemination of information and prevention literature to attract client’s attention to their own health, to change a risky and dangerous patterns of behavior into a socially acceptable way of life.
• Providing comprehensive (medical, psychological, social) counselling and future support.
• Providing access to testing for HIV, hepatitis B and C, and syphilis, with a mandatory pre-and post-testing.
• Working with our client»s relatives (social patronage), and shelters/orphanages for the re-integration of children into their families, children’s institutions and educational institutions.
• Providing educational activities/classes for children on general subjects such as reading, writing and mathematics.
• Interacting and collaborating with other NGOs and government organizations committed to assisting children in difficult life situations.
• Conducting training activities together with partner organizations (workshops, seminars, round table discussions) to improve the working methods of staff in public and private institutions working in the field.

Implementation of the program:

The basis of this program is a comprehensive and individual approach to the problems of street children, adolescents and young people through the involvement of various professionals – doctors, psychologists, teachers, social workers, and lawyers. Work with children is carried out by ‘street’ social workers (outreach workers) in public places where there are high concentrations of ‘street’ children (including subway stations, basements and attics). Their task is to monitor the street ‘hangouts,’ actioning rapid social responses for the prevention of ‘street life’ and reducing the risks associated with prolonged ‘street life.’ Outreach workers explain the program to the clients, distribute awareness and prevention literature (specially designed for children), conduct primary inspections and, thus, establish a relationship of trust with their customers.

The main task of working with homeless/street children is to motivate them to return to their families and to take control of their personal situation. After interviewing the child at the ‘Center for Medical, Psychological and Social Assistance’ and obtaining the voluntary consent of the child for further support, he may be asked to participate in ambulance-based monitoring or hospitalization. Since the majority of street children and adolescents are drug users, the child may be offered admission to the substance abuse department of the «Children’s Infectious Diseases Hospital № 3″ with the possibility of further recovery in the rehabilitation center known as MOBF «For a healthy generation on the eve of the 21st Century.» In parallel with drug treatment, work begins with the family of the child and with institutions dedicated to the social protection of minors. After the completion of these processes, the child is placed under the patronage of a specialist social worker. All these processes have a common goal of returning the child to its family or to a children’s institution/orphanage. At the end of 2007, St. Petersburg’s City Consultative Diagnostic Center «Juventa» provided «Humanitarian Action» with a space to open its «Center for Medical, Psychological and Social Assistance for Homeless and Street Children, Adolescents and Young People». The Grand opening of this center was held on December 21, 2007 at this address: Old-Peterhof Ave., 12, 190020, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

As part of the 2008-2011 program, the following projects were implemented:

«Equal access to basic health and social services for street children and adolescents in St. Petersburg» (in partnership with the European Union).
«Preventing HIV infection among street children»» (in collaboration with the Open Health Institute).
«Implementation of the medical, psychological and social support for people with complex problems related to HIV / AIDS in St. Petersburg » (in collaboration with PSI).