Samarth – Community Clinic for MSM & Transgender

Community Clinics providing health and HIV testing for MSM, transgender and hijra In implementation since 2016 with support from Elton John AIDS Foundation, Samarth project provides community-led HIV screening and treatment linkages for men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender and hijra (TGH) population by ensuring confidential and sensitive dealing of various sexual health-related issues. Samarth community clinics are implemented through a consortium of five partners, Lakshya Trust, Sangama Trust, Amitie Trust, Udaan Trust and Shaan Foundation in seven cities: Noida (Delhi NCR), Jalandhar (Punjab), Vadodara (Gujarat), Hyderabad (Telangana), Hooghly (West Bengal), Hassan (Karnataka) and Pune (Maharashtra).   Samarth is the first community-based testing intervention implemented in India with the support of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) for MSM and TGH population. The project works closely with NACO & State AIDS Control Societies. The project has helped the national programme to gather higher reactivity among MSM & TGH person, reach out to the new population, not yet served under targeted interventions, for prevention services and to increase health-seeking behaviour among them.