In occasion of the World Drug Day on 26th of June, Villa Maraini Foundation organized an event to offer free testing for COVID-19 and HCV to the clients of its drug treatment services, in cooperation with the Department of Infectious Diseases of Tor Vergata University in Rome. Professor Massimo Andreoni, Director of the Department and one of the main expert on infectious diseases in Italy, attended the event and said :"I believe that Villa Maraini is one of the best example of drug treatment service, which today gives us the opportunity to offer a real public health service, providing testing for COVID-19 and HCV for PWUDs in a non-medical settings".
Massimo Barra, Founder of Villa Maraini, added: "Thanks to the cooperation with Tor Vergata University, we offered more than 140 tests to our clients, facilitating the access to health services for people so called hard-to-reach".
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Despite the emergency situation caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, Villa Maraini Foundation has managed to ensure continuity of treatment and access to harm reduction services for PWUDs. The work of Villa Maraini Street Unit and the impact of COVID-19 on services and users is explained in an article published on The Global Observer and available at the following link:
https://globalobserver.blog/drug-addiction-and-covid-19-interview-to-giancarlo-rodoquino-from-villa-maraini-foundation/?fbclid=IwAR196LzVS9-s2FmYcnL6PijWrvuLwbEp9vd3Vut4-LswydctJiHfienu8zc