Left out in the cold: Women, Drugs & HIV in Ukraine (BALKA)

BALKA is a trilogy of stories about women struggling with drug use and HIV in Ukraine.

Through the course of the film we meet Zina and Marina: best friends and active drug users about to discover their HIV status; Tanya, a mother of two who has transitioned into replacement therapy but whose husband continues to use drugs; and Galya, a former user who now works as a peer-to-peer outreach worker.

The fall of the Soviet Union led to a surge in injecting drug use and skyrocketing rates of HIV spread through shared injecting equipment. Living with HIV in Ukraine is fraught with stigma and discrimination. It's even harder if you're a woman.

This documentary film directed by Anya Meksin and Leeza Meksin and produced by Sophie Pinkham, Balka details the lives of women struggling with drug use and HIV in Ukraine.

Approximately 240,000 people in Ukraine are HIV positive, and it is estimated that more than 40 percent of them are unaware of their HIV status. Many of those that are aware experience stigma, discrimination and systematic human rights violation.

Balka was made with the support of the Open Society Public Health Program's International Harm Reduction Development Program as well as the Institute of International Education's Fulbright Program. Please support us and share as much as you can.

LOVE & LIGHT.

Left out in the cold: Women, Drugs & HIV in Ukraine (BALKA) (YouTube)