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11th March 2010
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Michel Sidibé - Keynote Opening Address
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We are pleased to announce that Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, will give the Keynote Opening Address and Rolleston Oration. The Opening Session starts at 4.20pm on Sunday 25 April.
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The Opening Session will be followed by the conference welcome reception at 6.30pm
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10th March 2010
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Musical Evening at the Cavern Club in Liverpool
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HIT is pleased to announce that it will be sponsoring a musical evening at the Cavern Club in Liverpool on 27 April 2010 for any conference delegate who plays an instrument or sings. This is thanks to the generosity of Cavern Club owners Bill Heckle and Dave Jones.
The format for the evening is:
From 8.00 until 10.30 there will be a series of short sets followed by a jam session. If you would like to take part, please contact Jessica Harris, stating which instrument you play; if you are a solo singer; and whether you need us to provide an instrument or not. Harpists among you will have to bring their own. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
The evening is open to all conference delegates and is free of charge. The venue holds 350 people, so get there early.
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29th January 2010
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Academic Programmes at the International Harm Reduction Academy
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IHRA is pleased to announce the launch of the International Harm Reduction Academy at Harm Reduction 2010.
This academic programme is being introduced as a partnership between IHRA, the Conference Consortium and Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). The Academy links the conference with additional teaching and mentoring. Students successfully completing the course are awarded a Liverpool John Moores University Certificate in Professional Development.
The Continuing Professional Development programme is designed to enable individuals to develop their professional abilities while obtaining new skills.
This programme will also be offered at future harm reduction conferences to provide a range internationally recognised and accredited Certificates in Professional Development at different levels. This will give students a formal and academically recognised route into either further training or higher academic qualifications.
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 Click here for more information about the academy including timetables, admission criteria and coursework [PDF:224KB]
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27th January 2010
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Call for Expressions of Interest to Host Future IHRA International Conferences
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IHRA invites expressions of interest for future IHRA international conferences. The conferences are produced in partnership with the Conference Consortium and ordinarily take place in April/May each year. We are seeking partners to host the conference and assist with the development and production of the events. We have venues for 2010, in Liverpool, UK, and 2011, in Beirut, Lebanon, but would like to fix venues and dates for 2012, 2013 and beyond.
Benefits to the host organisations include the opportunity to promote harm reduction nationally and regionally.
Local partners are usually organisations engaged in harm reduction work in the city, country, or region where the conference is taking place, who assist with promoting the conference, securing political and financial support, providing harm reduction and other medical services to delegates, taking part in the design and construction of the programme and acting as the focal point for the conference locally.
If you wish to express an interest in hosting the 2012 conference the deadline for submission of a bid is Wednesday 31st March 2010. If you wish to be considered for years beyond this it would be helpful to have at least basic information – bid team, potential venue(s) hotels, possible local/national/regional support, etc) – without the more detailed costs by that date, as this will at least give us an idea of levels of interest.
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Click here to view information for prospective hosts [PDF:900KB]
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If you have any questions about the information or the process, please contact Paddy Costall, Managing Director of the Conference Consortium.
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25th January 2010
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Medical and Health Care Facilities Reminder
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The organisers are striving to deliver an event that facilitates appropriate care for delegates with specific medical and health care needs, including delegates who use or have used drugs.
For Harm Reduction 2010 the importation of methadone and buprenorphine will be allowed. Other harm reduction services and supplies will be available from locations near the conference venue. For those unable to import their medications, substitute prescribing for the continuation of a pre-existing treatment regime may be available for delegates at a location close to the conference site - subject to individual assessment and presentation of the appropriate documentation. However, there will be no new initiation of treatment for delegates (i.e., if you are not currently receiving substitution therapy in your home country, then you will not be able to start this treatment in the UK).
Delegates wishing to import their medication or continue it whilst in the UK must contact Gill Bradbury as soon as possible.
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15th January 2010
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Nominations Invited for Paolo Pertica Fellowship 2010
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Nominations are now being invited for the 2010 Paolo Pertica Fellowship along with other IHRA Awards -all of which will be presented at Harm Reduction 2010: IHRA’s 21st International Conference.
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The Paolo Pertica Fellowship was established in 2004 by the European Network of Drugs and Infections Prevention in Prisons (ENDIPP). The creation of ENDIPP stemmed from Paolo Pertica’s work with prisoners from a wide range of different nationalities incarcerated in London prisons.
The aim of the Fellowship is to encourage innovative harm reduction work or research in prison and other custodial settings by enabling the recipients to develop small projects. These projects must clearly demonstrate how they contribute to improving the conditions of those individuals in custody who either have drug use or HIV related needs. The Fellowship is for one year with up to €10,000 available. The completed project report is then presented at the next IHRA international conference.
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Criteria
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To develop and report on an innovative HR action research or demonstration project based in prison or other custodial settings. The project could involve:
• Introducing/running HR services
• Research on HR needs
• Education/training on HR.
• Advocating for introduction of HR.
• Advocating for prisoners rights – esp. re drug use.
• Developing a funding proposal for a larger HR project.
Applicants should ensure that their proposal is manageable within the timeframe (one year) and resources available.
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Who can apply
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Individuals or organisations any where in the world. (Applicants do not have to be an IHRA member)
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17th December 2009
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Executive Programme Committee Finalises Conference Programme
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In December 2009, the Executive Programme Committee for Harm Reduction 2010: IHRA’s 21st International Conference held a three-day meeting in Liverpool to review the 1,000 abstracts that were submitted and to create the conference programme. This is always a very challenging task but, once again, the end result is an excellent programme with over 200 speakers in 57 sessions which cover a huge range of topics.
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The draft programme includes:
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- High-profile Opening and Closing Sessions on Sunday 25th and Thursday 29th April respectively
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- A high-profile Plenary Session on ‘Harm Reduction: Next Generation Challenges’ including presentations from the UN Reference Group on HIV and Injecting Drug Use, IHRA, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the International HIV/AIDS Alliance
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- A Plenary Session on ‘The Next Generation of Drug Policy’ – including presentations from Argentina, Portugal and the UK.
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- A Plenary Session on ‘Creating Evidence for Action’ – featuring presentations from leading social scientist Philippe Bourgois and the World Health Organization
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- Eighteen Major Sessions on topics including policing, young people, drug user activism, alcohol, tobacco, advocacy, crack cocaine, harm reduction in Europe, and sex work.
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- 36 Concurrent Sessions on a huge range of topics – including research, compulsory treatment, needle and syringe programmes, dance drugs, innovative services, legal aid, overdose prevention, drug treatment and prisons.
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We are confident that the final programme will appeal to, and cater for, all of our delegates. In addition to the formal programme, there will also be a number of satellite meetings, around 400 poster presentations, a conference party, a Drugs and Harm Reduction Film Festival, and a separate ‘Dialogue Space’ programme (to be announced in early 2010) of interactive debates, discussions and sessions. Please remember that the deadline for ‘Early-Bird’ discounted delegate fees is January 21st 2010 – with additional savings available on any payments made before December 31st 2009 due to the temporarily reduced UK tax rates.
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Click here to create a user account and register for the conference
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3rd December 2009
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Nominations Invited for 2010 IHRA Awards
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Nominations are now being invited for the 2010 International Rolleston Award, National Rolleston Award and the Carol and Travis Jenkins Award – all of which will be presented at Harm Reduction 2010: IHRA’s 21st International Conference. Each year, IHRA presents these awards to leading individuals or organisations in the field of harm reduction.
The IHRA awards are presented each year to individuals or organisations that have made outstanding contributions to reducing harm from psychoactive substances. These contributions may include work on:
• harm reduction programming
• harm reduction practice
• harm reduction policy
• harm reduction teaching and training
• science, research or critical thinking relevant to harm reduction
• advocacy for harm reduction
• providing funding or resources for harm reduction
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16th November 2009
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Delegate Feedback from ‘Harm Reduction 2009’ in Bangkok
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Harm Reduction 2009: IHRA’s 20th International Conference concluded on April 23rd 2009. The conference – held in Bangkok, Thailand – took place despite unprecedented challenges before hand, with a declared ‘state of emergency’ in the city amid widespread political protests. Nonetheless, the event received sterling reviews from 1,000+ conference participants from an estimated 80 countries worldwide. The success of the conference and the overwhelmingly positive feedback received is testament to the hard work of IHRA and the Conference Consortium and the four conference partners - the Asian Harm Reduction Network (AHRN), Population Services International (PSI), the Raks Thai Foundation and the Thai Red Cross Society.
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Conference Strengths
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The feedback surveys gauged the full breadth of the conference experience – including the relevance of the topics, the quality of the speakers, the quality of the printed materials, the value for money and more. Interestingly, half of the respondents indicated that this was their first international harm reduction conference, justifying the decision by IHRA to take the conference to Asia and to Thailand.
On the online feedback forms, delegates either “Agreed” or “Strongly Agreed” that:
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- ‘The sessions and topics were well chosen and relevant’ (81 %)
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- ‘The sessions and topics were useful for my work’ (76 %)
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- They ‘made new contacts with harm reduction colleagues’ (79 %)
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- ‘The speakers were knowledgeable and informative (74 %)
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- They ‘gained new knowledge about harm reduction’ (63 %)
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In addition, nearly three quarters of delegates indicated that the ‘Quality of the printed conference materials’ was ‘good’ or ‘excellent’, with a similar percentage rating the conference staff equally highly.
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Improvements Made, and Areas to Focus On
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In some areas, the 2009 conference received better feedback than Harm Reduction 2008 in Barcelona, Spain. For example, the food and refreshments in Bangkok received a positive review from 82% of respondents, and 56% felt there was enough time allowed for questions and discussion – both of which were areas identified for improvement in 2008. Naturally, the latter statistic in particular leaves much room for improvement, and this (and other feedback) will all be taken into account for 2010.
All of the strengths and weaknesses identified in the feedback surveys will assist IHRA in preparations for Harm Reduction 2010 in Liverpool, England. We would like to thank all of the delegates who took the time to offer their comments and feedback, and we look forward to welcoming you to Liverpool.
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12th November 2009
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Discounted Hotel Accommodation in Liverpool
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The Mersey Partnership – the Official Tourist Board for the Liverpool City Region – has negotiated additional ‘early-bird’ discounts with a number of the hotels near to the conference venue. These discounts are listed on their online accommodation booking website and apply to rooms booked and paid for before January 21st 2010 – which is also the deadline for ‘early-bird’ delegate fee payments.
The reduced accommodation rate is non-refundable, but rooms can be transferred to another guest where necessary. All rates are subject to availability and to individual hotel’s terms and conditions.
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6th November 2009
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Over 1,000 Abstracts Received for Harm Reduction 2010
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The online abstract submission for Harm Reduction 2010 closed on Sunday November 1st 2009, and we have received over 1,000 submissions from around 800 different authors! This number is greater than the total number of abstracts received for the 2007 conference in Warsaw and the 2009 conference in Bangkok. The abstracts are more or less equally divided between the three ‘tracks’ – with one third about research, one third about practice, and one third about advocacy and/or policy.
Importantly, the submissions have come from 77 different countries around the world – from the United Kingdom (the host country) to New Zealand, Venezuela to Tanzania, and Jamaica to Thailand! Over 400 authors have also requested some level of financial support and, while we cannot meet this huge demand for funding, we will be allocating as many scholarships as possible to assist these people.
The 1,000 abstracts will now be peer-reviewed by an International Programme Committee of experts from around the world. The results of these reviews will then guide the smaller Executive Programme Committee when they meet in early December to create sessions and finalise the programme. The first drafts of the programme will then be made available on this website in late December or early January.
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29th October 2009
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Discounts Available on Flights to Liverpool
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 We are pleased to announce that Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines have become the Official Partner Airlines for ‘Harm Reduction 2010’. For many delegates, booking a connecting flight to Liverpool John Lennon Airport through Amsterdam may be quicker and cheaper than booking a direct flight to other UK airports (such as London Heathrow, London Gatwick or Manchester) and then travelling on to Liverpool. As such, both airlines are pleased to offer discounts of 5% – 10% on flights to Liverpool.
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8th October 2009
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Harm Reduction Academy To Be Launched For 2010
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 At Harm Reduction 2010 in Liverpool, the first 'International Harm Reduction Academy' will be delivered in partnership with IHRA and the Conference Consortium - and with academic programmes delivered by Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU).
The Academy aims to:
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- Provide a range of internationally recognised and accredited certificates of ‘Continuing Professional Development’ (CPD).
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- Provide students with a clear framework – mapped through the conference – with which they can enhance their experience and understanding of harm reduction.
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- Provide students with a formal and academically recognised route into either further training or higher academic qualifications – including the LJMU MSc and Postgraduate Diploma in Drug Use and Addiction (available as both part-time and distance learning courses).
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At Harm Reduction 2010, the ‘CPD 1’ course will be offered: the ‘Certificate of Professional Development in The Reduction of Drug Related Harm’. This certificate will be the equivalent to ‘Level 1’ undergraduate credits – which are internationally recognised and transferable, and give a clear indication that the successful candidate can show competence and ability to complete an academic programme in English. The Academy will then be delivered at future IHRA conferences and will eventually be available at three different levels – all accredited by LJMU. All of the Academy courses will conform to an established academic format including a rigorous application criteria, assessment process and identification of learning outcomes and transferable skills.
The Harm Reduction Academy website is currently under construction and will be launched soon. However, applications are now being invited for the first Harm Reduction Academy at the 2010 conference (to obtain the ‘CPD 1’ certificate). Successful applicants will be expected to register as delegates for the conference prior to being offered a place at the Academy. The fees for the Academy – which are in addition to the applicable delegate fees – are £80.60 for UK and EU students and £324 for all other students.
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