|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
27th May 2009
|
Harm Reduction 2009 Takes Place in Bangkok
|
 ‘Harm Reduction 2009: IHRA’s 20th International Conference’ took place in Bangkok, Thailand from the 20th to 23rd April, and – despite the city being in a ‘state of emergency’ due to recent political uncertainty – brought together an incredible 1,000 delegates from 80 countries, including many from Thailand and other Asian countries. The four days were filled with discussions and debates about the latest research findings, best practice guidelines, policy developments and advances in harm reduction programming worldwide.
The conference theme was ‘Harm Reduction and Human Rights’, and this was a recurring issue throughout the event – including a dedicated Plenary Session, sessions documenting some of the human rights violations committed in the name of drug control, and a dignified protest by Thai drug users and their allies at the Opening Session in which they called for “treatment not torture”. The Opening Session on Monday 20th April also included a formal welcome from the Governor of Bangkok, an opening address from IHRA’s Executive Director, and a keynote address from Professor Michel Kazatchkine, the Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Professor Kazatchkine emphasised the need for decriminalising drug use as part of a public health approach, and the huge discrepancy which exists between the global resources needed for harm reduction and the current levels of funding – both issues which gained much attention during the rest of the conference. These powerful statements from a senior international policy maker were received with a standing ovation from the delegates and attracted a great deal of media interest from around the world.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The four-day conference programme included over 60 sessions and showcased over 200 presentations and 250 posters on topic as diverse as HIV, hepatitis C, tuberculosis, alcohol, tobacco, methamphetamine, policing, research, opiate substitution treatment, needle exchange programmes, compulsory drug treatment, poverty, prisons, young people, sex work, risk environments, drug user organisations, families, the war on drugs, and the recent UN High Level Segment on Drug Control in Vienna. There were also sessions focusing on harm reduction in the host country, a separate programme of skills-building workshops, a ‘Dialogue Space’ hosted by the Global Fund to allow delegates to meet international leaders, the 6th International Drugs and Harm Reduction Film Festival, and a conference party and awards ceremony featuring a performance from ‘Kormix’ (a hip hop group from Korsang, Cambodia’s only harm reduction programme).
|
|
|
The conference closed on Thursday 23rd April with an impassioned keynote address from Craig McClure, the Executive Director of the International AIDS Society. After five years in his current position, Mr McClure reflected on the politics surrounding harm reduction, the global responses to HIV, and the evolving status of injecting drug use within these responses. He told delegates that, globally, “Blatant and wilful denial of the evidence can only be based on deep-seated fear. Fear drives the global war on drugs. Fear drives abuse by doctors and others in the medical system of people who use drugs and the continuing use of so-called ‘treatments’ that might more accurately be called ‘torture’”.
|
|
|
Overall, the conference highlighted how far harm reduction has progressed and where there are still huge challenges to be overcome. It brought together health workers, law enforcement, human rights activists, people who use drugs, frontline workers, policy makers and researchers at an important time for harm reduction and for the host country (against a backdrop of discussions about a new Thai harm reduction policy and a major national grant from the Global Fund). Around half of the delegates were attending an international harm reduction conference for the first time – further justifying IHRA’s decision to hold the conference in Bangkok – and there was a great sense of energy and enthusiasm throughout the four days.
A full review – including presentations, images, video footage and abstracts – will be available soon as part of the previous conferences archive on www.ihraconferences.net
|
 |
|
25th May 2009
|
UK Event on Drugs, Alcohol and Criminal Justice
|
The Conference Consortium – in partnership with Drink and Drug News, the CNWL Health Trust, and the Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Health Trust – are running an interactive and participative conference in London on June 25th 2009 which focuses on ‘Drugs, Alcohol and Criminal Justice: How do we make a difference?’. The event will examine what is working and what is not in terms of UK criminal justice service delivery.
The event aims to allow delegates to ‘unpick’ confusion and barriers where they exist, identify ways to address them and improve practice and service delivery. A programme of workshops will give delegates the opportunity to look at the system from different perspectives – including those of arrest referral workers, court teams, probation staff, prison staff, health workers, police officers and magistrates. The working groups will identify good and effective practice, highlighting particular examples of inter-disciplinary working. The programme is structured to ensure that this is a ‘working’ event – engaging delegates to consider and discuss a number of inter-related scenarios, based on actual cases.
The one day event will take place at the ‘Friends House’ on Euston Road in London, and will conclude with delegates taking their discussions and conclusions to a panel of UK Parliamentarians including David Burrowes MP, Paul Flynn MP, Lord Ramsbotham and Jonathon Aitken. The event costs £145 (£166.75 including VAT), and registration is now open at www.conferenceconsortium.com. For further information, please contact Michelle Vatin.
|
 Click here to download the ‘Drugs, Alcohol and Criminal Justice’ conference flyer [PDF:2.1MB]
|
|
|
21st May 2009
|
Harm Reduction Progressing in Malaysia
|
Malaysia is one of many countries in Asia which have embraced harm reduction approaches and interventions such as needle and syringe programmes, methadone substitution treatment, drop-in centres and outreach work. In response to a HIV epidemic which is mainly driven by injecting drug use (71.2% of reported HIV cases between 1986 and 2008 were injecting drug users), the Malaysian Government began with pilot needle exchange schemes in three states, but this intervention will soon be available in every state across the country through health clinics and in partnership with NGOs and the Malaysian AIDS Council.
In an article in The Star – Malaysia's leading English-language newspaper – the Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai claimed that Malaysians are “wise and mature enough” to understand the principles and rationale behind needle and syringe exchange as a form of HIV prevention, and stated that these services “will serve as a driving force towards a wide range of harm reduction-related activities such as information, education and communication on risk reduction, HIV testing and counselling, health screening, anti-retroviral treatment and psycho-social care and support”.
In the same article, Professor Adeeba Kamarulzaman – the President of the Malaysian AIDS Council and a former Director of IHRA – noted that Malaysia has come a long way but more still needed to be done in terms of reaching a target of 60% of the country’s drug users through expanding provision and changing existing laws and policies.
|
|
|
|
|
|
20th May 2009
|
Data Request for Global Burden of Disease Project
|
As part of the Global Burden of Disease 2005 project, the ‘Mental Disorders and Illicit Drug Use Expert Group’ are conducting systematic reviews of the prevalence, incidence and remission of mental health disorders and drug dependence in order to estimate the burden of disease attributable to illicit drug dependence. For the first time, this project will also provide estimates for different drug types. The Expert Group is looking for data from around the world on the prevalence of use and dependence on amphetamines, cannabis, cocaine, and heroin and other opioids.
The project is in the process of updating estimates for every country around the world on the prevalence of use and the prevalence of dependence of each included drug type (amphetamines, cannabis, cocaine, and heroin and other opioids). Producing these estimates is big challenge as many countries do not have prevalence data measuring the prevalence of drug use or dependence, or the data that exists may not be widely available. So far, the Expert Group have conducted a large search of the peer-reviewed literature and have tried to gather as much information as possible. However, it is inevitable that some data and material will have been missed, so the Expert Group is seeking prevalence data from 1990 to the present day.
|
|
|
If you have any information that may assist this important project, your contribution will be individually acknowledged in all related publications (unless requested otherwise). Please send relevant studies, data and reports to gbd@med.unsw.edu.au before Sunday 31 May 2009.
|
|
|
|
|
19th May 2009
|
Professor Wodak Speaks About Drug Consumption Rooms
|
Professor Alex Wodak spoke at an event in Sydney, Australia on May 6th which marked the 10 year anniversary of the opening of Australia’s first and only safer injecting facility. In his speech, Professor Wodak stated that the group which established the service had only one intention, “to establish... a place in Kings Cross [an area in Sydney] where people determined to inject illegal drugs could do so safely... [and] without fear of being charged and arrested”.
The Sydney facility was a response to high rates of heroin overdose in Australia, one in ten of which occurred within two kilometres of the site. Faced with numerous legal barriers, “Our last resort was civil disobedience. About 30 people came together from all walks of life to establish the Tolerance Room here in a basement of a church at the Wayside Chapel. There were parents of drug users, some drug users, nurses, doctors, a former politician and a businessman”.
Professor Wodak went on to state that the service in Kings Cross is still supported by more than 70% of local residents for the impact that it has had on public injecting, and quoted some of the recent positive statements being made by international policy makers and organisations such as the United Nations. He then called upon the New South Wales Government to recognise that their safer injecting facility is just as much a part of the health care system as other harm reduction measures (such as needle exchange programmes and substitution treatment – “which were also controversial when they were introduced”) – and as emergency departments, hospitals and doctors. “Yet for political reasons, after eight years, the MSIC still remains a research trial... We call upon all governments to apply the same standards when evaluating all interventions for illicit drugs – whether these are intended to reduce the supply, demand or harms resulting from drugs”.
The full text of Professor Wodak’s speech has been uploaded to the IHRA Blog. According to IHRA’s Global State of Harm Reduction research, there are currently only eight countries around the world which have drug consumption rooms.
|
|
|
15th May 2009
|
CLAT 5 – The 5th Latin Conference on Harm Reduction (1-4 July 2009, Oporto, Portugal)
|
CLAT 5 is the fifth in an annual series of conferences which grew out of the work of civil society in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Switzerland. The event now brings together stakeholders from Europe and further afield, including many from Latin America to discuss harm reduction policy and practice. This conference will take place in Oporto, Portugal from the 1-4 July 2009 and will be organised by APDES and GRUP IGIA. The theme of CLAT 5 is ‘Globalization, Harm Reduction and Human Rights’.
The event allows civil society to share their work, to discuss current practice and policies, as well as to strategise on the future of harm reduction.
The official languages of the conference will be Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian and English.
For more information on this event, including how to register to attend, please visit the new CLAT 5 website and see the CLAT 5 newsletter [PDF:425KB].
|
|
|
13th May 2009
|
Youth RISE and IHRA Launch New Briefing
|
Over the last few months, Youth RISE – the international youth-led harm reduction network – and IHRA asked youth researchers from every region of the world to compile and write country reports on the status of young people, drug use and harm reduction programming in their countries and regions. Although every country and region is different – not to mention every city and town within each country, and each group of young people within every city and town – there were some commonalities in what was being reported.
To coincide with Harm Reduction 2009: IHRA’s 20th International Conference, Youth RISE and IHRA have highlighted some of the common themes through a short briefing. The report overviews the current situation regarding young people who use drugs, and the human rights approach to addressing them based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. A full report is due out later in 2009, which will illustrate the legal, social and political recommendations of the Conventions of the Rights the Child and how they relate to young people, substance use and access to prevention and harm reduction services.
|
Click here to view the briefing [PDF:570KB]
|
|
|
7th May 2009
|
EHRN Launch New Initiative on Hepatitis C
|
The Eurasian Harm Reduction Network (EHRN) is starting a new initiative on hepatitis C as part of a three year project that is funded by the European Commission, and led by the Correlation Network. This project will include the development of a collection of good practice hepatitis C interventions in the European Union (EU), the development of a training tool on hepatitis C interventions, and the delivery of advanced training for service providers and other stakeholders. The project’s thematic focus will be on hepatitis C prevention, treatment and care for injecting drug users – mainly concentrating on harm reducing interventions, but with elements of advocacy work as well.
EHRN have issued a call for examples of good practice hepatitis C interventions from both inside and outside the EU. The project will rely heavily on existing expertise and experiences, and selected services will be documented and showcased in the toolkit. If you would like to share your work and projects in this field, please contact Simona Merkinaite in English or Russian.
EHRN would also like to hear from experts from around the world – and particularly from the EU – who would be interested in engaging and advising the project, the development of the materials and/or the development or delivery of the training. Again, please contact Simona Merkinaite in English or Russian if you are interested.
|
|
|
|
|
1st May 2009
|
DFID Launch New Reports on Access to Medication and International Drug Control
|
In March 2009, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) – through the ‘Drug Control and Access to Medicines’ (DCAM) Consortium – launched three major new reports entitled ‘A Blueprint for Reforming Access to Opioid Medications’, ‘Closing the Gap: Case Studies of Opioid Access Reform in China, India, Romania & Vietnam’, and ‘Review of Global Policy Architecture and Country Level Practice on HIV/AIDS and Drug Treatment’. These documents describe how countries have reformed regulations which limited access to therapeutic opioid medications, and how donors, international organisations and health advocates can make further progress in the future.
The ‘Drug Control and Access to Medicines’ (DCAM) Consortium is an international collaboration of experts on drug control regulation, drug treatment, HIV, and pain and palliative care. The participating institutions include the Center for Health Law, Policy and Practice at Temple University, the AIDS Projects Management Group, and the Pain and Policy Studies Group at the University of Wisconsin. The Consortium has been funded by DFID – who also provide major funding to IHRA – to support and contribute to efforts by a range of stakeholders to reduce policy-related barriers that prevent patients from receiving controlled medicines for pain and drug dependency.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
