URI Partnerships Thriving to Help People in Crisis

30 May 2020

"This example shows that URI and Alliance India’s Harm Reduction Team together are a partnership that is hands-on, responsive and responsible."

URI Partnerships Thriving to Help People in Crisis

On May 19 around 11 am, a District AIDS Prevention Control Unit (DAPCU) from East Delhi reached out to the Alliance India Harm Reduction Team seeking support for migrant construction workers stranded in Delhi’s Patparganj due to the pandemic situation. The workers were barefoot, with no food, unable to reach their homes.

Looking at their desperate situation, DAPCU personnel, along with some NGO partners involved in India’s HIV response, tried reaching out to charities and organisations involved in CoVID-19 relief work. In the process, Anchal Trust, which is one of the implementing partners of Alliance India’s HIV intervention for women in sex work in Delhi, guided the DAPCU officials to the Alliance India Harm Reduction team.

Anchal Trust was able to help connect with the Alliance India Harm Reduction and URI Team. URI and Alliance India responded in less than an hour, financially supported by a private donor.

"We are very proud to say that we were able to make this support available in less than two hours."

"This example shows that URI and Alliance India’s Harm Reduction Team together are a partnership that is hands-on, responsive and responsible. The growing strength of our network and the belief of our partners in providing inclusive, customised and strategised support is not just reiterating the strength of relationships, but also reflect the virtue of growing affirmations in inclusion and service to all," the URI North India and Afghanistan team wrote in their Facebook post.

DAPCUs are set up in some of the most vulnerable districts to provide management oversight to HIV and AIDS activities in the districts. DAPU also play a pivotal role in monitoring and coordination of service delivery from the different facilities in the district.