This afternoon I met with Oleksandra Stuzhyhska, founder and director of SALUS Foundation in the Center “ASTAR”, a private clinic for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Dr. Stuzhyhska is a gynecologist by profession and has a PhD in the study of STIs.
In Ukraine, NGOs are prohibited from diagnosing or treating patients because they lack proper licensing 
from the Ministry of Health. However, SALUS has worked out an agreement with ASTAR, the private clinic with which it shares a building, so that SALUS can buy equipment and give it to ASTAR for specific purposes and they can also provide high-level consultations on diagnoses. Through this cooperation, SALUS is able to offer free testing and counseling for sex workers, victims of rape, trafficking and domestic violence, and they would like to extend it to single mothers but that has not yet been approved.
The NGO “International HIV/AIDS Alliance,” the biggest (or at least best-known) organization working 
on HIV/AIDS in Ukraine, has gained the unprecedented ability to give treatments and diagnosis. Right now SALUS is working with Alliance on an outreach project where they give HIV/AIDS tests with instant results to sex workers on the street. If the tests return positive, the women are encouraged to go to the HIV/AIDS clinic.
Due to lack of funding in the past few years there have not been any government attempts to collect data on the number of people living with STIs or HIV/AIDS in Lviv and Dr. Stuzhyhska said one of her goals is to conduct an epidemiological study on the prevalence of STIs in the normal population in Ukraine. Currently, most of the international funding is given to informational campaigns and trainings, versus medical studies.
Governmental involvement
Government-run facilities do exist for STIs but people do not typically go to them. Under the Soviet Union, people were obliged to go to the clinics for testing and there was no confidentiality; if a person did not show up for their follow-up treatment, letters were sent to their workplace informing the manager about the STI and the person’s lack of response. It is understandable that this has made a lingering impression.
One positive step forward is that SALUS has recently won a competition in the local government through which they should receive 19,050 grivnas (around $6350 USD) to continue their work. Dr. Stuzhyhska said it would be the first time they had gotten any money from the government. She had previously noted that she was tired of waiting for things to change and there seemed to be some skepticism about the actual delivery of the funds. Hopefully, it is a signal of future partnerships and increased interest from the government.
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