The general objective of the project is to broaden the access to HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) testing, prevention, treatment and care for vulnerable groups, such as intravenous drug users (IDUs) and migrants DUs.
The project`s specific objectives are:
- to develop a framework and model to improve the effectiveness of HIV and TB testing and counselling among IDUs and migrants DUs;
- to increase the percentage of IDUs and migrants having access to HIV and TB testing;
- to ensure that people living with HIV and TB receive treatment for both conditions;
- to promote healthier ways of life and risk reduction among drug users and migrants;
- to assess the effectiveness of street HIV and TB testing in terms of proportion of new infection identified.
The project will use outreach work as a tool for promoting a new kind of provider-initiated counselling and testing, specifically tailored to hard-to-reach groups. In this way, the project will contribute also to reduce the gap between drug users/migrants and health care services and to reduce inequalities in the access to treatment.

The project`s strategic relevance and contribution to the programme will be very high, because it will provide new information on important determinants for public health in Europe and on the effectiveness of new kind of interventions for HIV and TB control among risk groups. In particular, the project will contribute to identify the specific determinants of late presentation for testing and care of TB and HIV infection by most-at-risk groups, such as drug users and migrants, and the main determinants of timely diagnosis and entry into care. This will be done through the analysis of all demographic, epidemiological and clinical data collected by the partners during the provision of testing and pre- post counselling. Moreover, the project will assess the effectiveness of HIV and TB testing in low-threshold facilities in terms of timely identification of new cases of HIV and TB and timely entry into care, and will compare the characteristics of diagnosed individuals with that of individuals found positive at voluntary counselling and testing centres.

The project can be divided in three main phases: development of common tools for street HIV and TB testing among IDUs and migrants; implementation of HIV and TB rapid tests in low-threshold facilities for IDUs and migrants; comparative analysis and assessment of the effectiveness of such intervention.
The methods used in the first phase will include exchange of experience among the partners, analysis of main weakness of current strategies for HIV/TB testing of risk groups and definition of key health determinants to be assessed. The second phase will include training for the staff of each partner and then, provision of HIV and TB tests for IDUs and migrants attending needle-exchange facilities and drop-in centres managed by each partner organization. Those resulted positive to the tests will be referred to clinical services for confirmatory analysis.
The third phase will include the analysis of all data collected by each partner and the assessment of this kind of intervention in terms of a wider access to test of most-at-risk groups and timely identification of new infections.

The conduction of HIV and TB rapid test will increase the number of persons tested and the notified TB and HIV cases among those unaware, contributing to reduce transmission not only among IDUs and migrants, but in the whole community. This will contribute to convince local authorities of the rationale behind developing more patient-oriented services and targeted interventions for these risk groups.
The cooperation between low-threshold facilities and treatment care services will facilitate the access to treatment and care for HIV and TB positive individuals which have no contacts with health services. So, the project will contribute also to combat discrimination and inequalities in the access to health services for marginalized groups.
Moreover, innovative testing strategies for most-at-risk groups will be identified, promoted and streamlined, and a new accurate, timely and comparable surveillance system for assessing and monitoring the trend of HIV and TB infection among IDUs and migrants will be developed.