Alla Bessonova

Kyrgyzstan

Alla Bessonova is Executive Director of OF "Attika", a harm reduction NGO in Kyrgyzstan, a role she has held since 2007. Alla works at the intersection of gender expertise, mental health, drug policy and community-led HIV response, with a particular focus on the needs of women who use drugs and women living with HIV across Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA). Alla serves on the Secretariat of the Eurasian Women's Network on AIDS (EWNA), is a member of the Steering Committee of the Just Futures Collaborative, and sits on the Governing Council of INHSU. She has extensive experience designing and conducting social research and projects, including in partnership with academic and research institutions, bringing an evidence-based approach to her advocacy and programming. Since 2020, Alla has served as national consultant on all community-led and community-involved studies on synthetic and new psychoactive substances in Kyrgyzstan, from methodology design and fieldwork to reporting. Since early 2025, she has taken part in community-led monitoring, supported by INPUD, of the expansion of opioid agonist treatment with buprenorphine and Buvidal, building on her organisation's longstanding partnership with the doctors of the Republican Narcological Centre. She also supports community involvement in the analysis phase of Unitaid's LADB and MOC studies in the region. In 2024, Alla received the Jude Byrne Emerging Female Leader Award (INPUD/INHSU) in recognition of her leadership in the harm reduction movement. She holds a Master's degree in Social Psychology from Bishkek Humanitarian University and is currently training at a Gestalt institute. Alla is based in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.