Brief Overview

Nai Zindagi Trust is a national non-profit organization in Pakistan working with people who use and inject drugs, their partners, families, and other vulnerable populations. Its primary focus is harm reduction, HIV prevention, testing, treatment linkage, care and support, with services delivered through community-based outreach, fixed service sites, referral networks, and prison-based interventions.

The organization also supports access to TB and HCV screening, diagnosis, treatment referral, and follow-up, while addressing barriers such as stigma, limited mobility, poverty, and difficulty accessing formal health services. Its work combines clinical and community-based approaches, including counseling, case management, adherence support, family services, and coordination with public health facilities, laboratories, and other service providers.

Nai Zindagi aims to improve early diagnosis, treatment initiation, retention in care, and continuity of services for populations that are often underserved by mainstream health systems. It also contributes to stronger referral pathways, better coordination between community and public-sector services, and more inclusive responses to HIV, viral hepatitis, TB, and related health and social needs.

Core Programs and Services

Community-based harm reduction and HIV services: Nai Zindagi provides HIV prevention, testing, counseling, treatment linkage, adherence support, needle and syringe services, and care for people who use and inject drugs, along with support for spouses, partners, and families.

CoPC+ Sites: Services are delivered through 45 Continuum of Prevention and Care (CoPC+) sites across all four provinces, covering 62 districts through extensive outreach services. These sites serve as accessible points for HIV testing, counseling, clinical assessment, referrals, follow-up, and harm reduction interventions.

Residential ART Adherence Units (AAUs): Nai Zindagi operates 2 residential AAUs to facilitate ART uptake, treatment initiation, adherence, and retention in care for PWID who require more intensive support.

Clinical and referral services: Clients are linked to ART centres, TB services, HCV diagnosis and treatment, hospitals, laboratories, and other specialized care, with private-sector providers engaged where needed.

Prison health interventions: Nai Zindagi also provides HIV, HCV, and related screening, referral, and treatment-linkage services in prisons.

Across these programs, the organization combines outreach, facility-based care, referral systems, and case management to improve access and continuity of treatment for underserved populations.

What Makes Our Approach Distinct

Nai Zindagi’s model is built around community-based, peer-led outreach that reaches people who inject drugs where they live. It integrates prevention, testing, treatment linkage, adherence support, residential ART preparedness, and referrals through CoPC+ sites and public and private health facilities. The model is strengthened by NZMIS (Nai Zindagi Management Information System) and strong data management capacities, enabling real-time monitoring, case tracking, and evidence-based decision-making. Its emphasis on continuity of care, community engagement, decentralized outreach, and integration with existing health systems supports scalability, sustainability, and access for underserved populations.

Impact Stories

Ghulam Raza, 44, from Sargodha, first came into contact with Nai Zindagi in 2005 while he was using drugs and frequently spending time on the streets. After hearing from fellow users about Nai Zindagi’s field-based HIV testing, he visited the CoPC site in Sargodha, where he was tested and learned that he was HIV positive. His family was informed and, although deeply concerned, supported him in seeking care. Nai Zindagi also facilitated HIV testing for his family members, who tested negative.

Over the following years, Ghulam continued to struggle with substance dependence. In 2019, after a major decline in his health, he travelled to Islamabad, where investigations showed a very low CD4 count and tuberculosis. With support from Nai Zindagi, he began treatment for both HIV and TB, received counseling and rehabilitation support, completed nine months of TB treatment, and became free from both substance use and nicotine dependence. He remains on ARV treatment.

Ghulam’s transformation later enabled him to support others facing similar challenges. Recognized at the centre as a role model for newly admitted residents, he subsequently joined Nai Zindagi as an Assistant Counselor and later as a Counselor. He worked at the Islamabad rehabilitation centre for four years before returning to Sargodha, where he remains associated with Nai Zindagi as a counselor. He credits God and Nai Zindagi with giving him a second chance at life, allowing him to live with dignity, support others, and watch his four children grow up and complete their education.