The International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA), the Conference Consortium, and Liverpool John Moores University are pleased to invite you to Harm Reduction 2010: IHRA’s 21st International Conference, which will take place in Liverpool, England. Since 1990, the annual international harm reduction conferences have grown in importance and become the main meeting point for all those interested in harm reduction around the world. Each year, the conference takes place in a different part of the world and covers the latest topics and debates from the field.
As has been the case in the previous 20 events, the 2010 conference will include high profile keynote speeches, plenary sessions, major sessions, symposia, workshops, training events, a film festival, poster exhibitions, exhibition areas, satellite meetings, social and networking events, and the annual IHRA award presentations.
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Why ‘The Next Generation’?
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The conference theme for 2010 is ‘Harm Reduction: The Next Generation’. There are now two and a half decades of harm reduction experience. A substantial body of evidence shows the feasibility and effectiveness of harm reduction in a wide variety of social and cultural settings. But what is needed as we move through to the third decade of harm reduction? How adequate are the models of harm reduction that have been developed? Is the ‘comprehensive package’ of harm reduction for HIV sustainable in low and middle income countries? How can we expand harm reduction to cater for all psychoactive drugs? When we ‘scale-up’ harm reduction, should we just replicate and expand pilots and projects or work to integrate harm reduction into health systems? How does harm reduction intersect with, and change, drug control systems? What new opportunities are there for harm reduction in terms of human rights, security, development and other sectors?
This theme will be reflected throughout the conference programme, and has been carefully chosen to embody:
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- Young People – who are both directly and indirectly affected by drug use around the world, and must be engaged in the global harm reduction and drug policy dialogue.
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- New Populations – including regions such as Africa and Latin America, which have often been overlooked by harm reduction advocates and policies.
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- New Interventions – including the need to address non-injecting use, and to move beyond a focus on opiates and develop effective responses for stimulant users and emerging drugs and trends.
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- New Challenges – including the need to improve global resourcing for harm reduction, and to improve quality as well as coverage around the world.
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In essence, IHRA plans to use Harm Reduction 2010 as an opportunity to look back over the last two decades and more and reflect on the successes and challenges that we have faced, in order to move forward.
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For Harm Reduction 2010, we will especially welcome abstracts that relate to the conference theme.
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Why Liverpool?
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For 2010, and the 21st international conference, we are returning to the city which hosted the first event back in April 1990. Liverpool has a proud history of both public health and harm reduction. It was the first city in the world to appoint a Medical Officer of Health back in 1847 and, in the 1980s, developed the ‘Mersey Harm Reduction Model’ for reducing drug related harms. The city opened the ‘Mersey Drug Training and Information Centre’ (MDTIC) in 1985 – a drop-in centre which provided honest information about safer drug use and, in 1986, opened one of the world’s first formal needle and syringe exchange programmes (in a converted toilet!). As such, Liverpool contributed significantly to the adoption of harm reduction across the UK and Europe, which then helped to establish harm reduction around the world.
As global interest grew in this new ‘harm reduction’ model, the MDTIC began publishing the ‘Mersey Drugs Journal’ – which became the International Journal of Drug Policy in 1989. The city was also recieving so many requests for visits and meetings to discuss their work that, in 1990, they organised the 1st International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm. The event was attended by around 250 people, and was the start of this highly successful series of events – which has since been to 17 different cities in 13 countries across five continents.
Harm Reduction Academy
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Harm Reduction 2010 will also see the launch of the Liverpool John Moores University ‘Harm Reduction Academy’. The Academy, delivered in partnership with IHRA and the Conference Consortium, will provide the opportunity for conference delegates to enhance their conference experience and obtain an internationally accredited Certificate in Professional Development.
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