Rural Environment, Breaking Distances To Care – Go Towards To Bring To


Author: Nathalie KRAICHETTE, Jacques SCHUURMAN, CAARUD YOZ, Charleville-Mézières

Theme: Models of Care Year: 2018

Background
In the Ardennes Department, a highly rural region of eastern France, with very low public
transport availability (1 bus per week for the main city of the area) and social and health
facilities concentrated on the same main city, Drug users (UD) are very quickly isolated from
the care with difficult access to screenings and treatments. This is why, for more than 10
years, CAARUD (Support and harm reduction center for drugs users) YOZ has been using a
mobile device to meet the users of the area.
Description
Since the beginning, CAARUD deploys a policy of the go towards to the users by offering
care services (like screening with rapid tests) in the motorhome or by going at home directly.
This takes place in a large policy offering a social and medical accompany in the social and
medical approaches in particular for the hepatitis C before, during and after treatment
CAARUD also provides more comprehensive care for users.
Effectiveness
Mobility allows contact with more people and makes possible to meet the isolated people
carrying hepatitis C, they have been accompanied and now are cured. The details of the
organization set up and results obtained for more than 10 years will be presented at the
congress.
Conclusion
Going to the most social or geographic isolated users is essential to give them a chance to
access care. These users would certainly have had neither access to information on new
therapeutics, or to get sterile material without the mobile CAARUD team.
Care professionals also find a definite advantage with this dedicated organization.
Our experience is simple, easily transposable and effective for geographically isolated drugs
users and to actively contribute to the eradication of the hepatitis C virus.

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