Strengthening STI Services for Key Populations: Alliance India’s Mythri Mainstreaming Model

indiaaidsalliance 22 August, 2013

Providing STI/HIV services in rural areas with fewer and scattered key populations (female sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgenders) is a challenge for HIV prevention programmes in India. In such scenarios, project-supported static clinics are not a sustainable option because of the limited availability of skilled health professionals and operational costs involved. Realising this need for sustainable approaches for providing STI services to key populations, India HIV/AIDS Alliance in collaboration with Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Control Society (APSACS) conceptualized the Mythri Mainstreaming Model in March 2007 as part of programming it supported under the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded Avahan India AIDS Initiative.

Alliance India initiated the model through a public-private partnership (PPP).The model used infrastructure and personnel of existing government healthcare facilities. Capacity building of staff, provision of STI drugs, and syphilis screening kits were provided by Alliance India to enable the provision of an essential package of STI services. STI services were provided after regular outpatient hours to female sex workers, men who have sex with men, and transgender communities. To address stigma and discrimination in accessing government facilities, doctors and staff were trained on issues faced by these clients.

The Mythri Mainstreaming Model achieved notable success. It resulted in improved utilisation of public healthcare facilities. Within the first year of initiating these clinics, more than 60% of targeted key populations had accessed these STI services. It successfully brought these groups to mainstream healthcare services. The Mythri model serves as a ‘one-stop’ centre for HIV/STI as well as other health care needs of key populations. Considerably greater understanding on health issues of key populations developed among medical staff, and these groups reported less stigma and discrimination while accessing services. Additionally, government healthcare facilities enjoyed improved infrastructure and staff capacities.

A study done by Alliance India to identify the most effective healthcare model for the delivery of STI services found that of the three models studied—project-owned clinics, private clinics, public private partnership (Mythri) clinics—the Mythri model was the most cost-effective. The model was also found to be the most effective in leveraging the strengths of the public and private sector and was the most sustainable of the three.

Due to lower operational costs and with better performance indicators, the Mythri Mainstreaming Model offers characteristics that make it preferable to other models of HIV/STI service delivery for scattered key population groups in rural areas. Similar models should be promoted in other resource-poor settings to improve HIV prevention and overall healthcare for vulnerable populations, such as female sex workers, men who have sex with men and transgenders.

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The author this post, Dr. M. Ravikanth, was Documentation & Communication Specialist with India HIV/AIDS Alliance in Andhra Pradesh.

The Avahan India AIDS Initiative (2003-2013) is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The programme aims to reduce HIV transmission and the prevalence of STIs in vulnerable high-risk populations, specifically female sex workers, MSM, and transgenders, through prevention education and services such as condom promotion, STI management, behavior change communication, community mobilization, and advocacy. Avahan works in six states, and Alliance India is a state lead partner in Andhra Pradesh.