This presentation will provide an overview of Columbia University's Global Health Research Center of Central Asia, and its unique role in conducting multi-level studies among people who use drugs, sex workers, and other key populations in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. It will review two HIV-focused interventions: Project Nova, a combination risk reduction and microfinance intervention for female sex workers who use drugs, and Project Bridge, which combines peer outreach, HIV testing, and case management to address losses along the HIV care continuum for people who inject drugs.
Tara McCrimmon is a research officer at Columbia University's Social Intervention Group (SIG) and Global Health Research Center of Central Asia (GHRCCA). She has worked in the Eastern Europe and Central Asian region for over 12 years, and is currently the project director for two NIDA-funded R01 studies run out of GHRCCA's regional office in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Ms. McCrimmon holds a dual masters degree (MPH-MIA) from Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health and School of International and Public Affairs.