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5th May 2008
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Methadone Maintenance Therapy Launched in Vietnam
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In April 2008, after several years of preparation, the Vietnamese Ministry of Health officially began a new national Methadone Maintenance Therapy pilot programme by opening the first two clinics in Hai Phong. The Vietnamese programme will be located in both Hai Phong and Ho Chi Minh City – as selected by the Vietnamese Administration for AIDS Control (VAAC).
The pilot methadone programme is being implemented by the VAAC with support from PEPFAR (via USAID), Family Health International (FHI), WHO, the World Bank, and DfID (UK). It will provide opiate substitution treatment as part of a package of comprehensive services for drug users integrated into general health services – including voluntary counseling and testing, out patient clinic services, peer support groups, psycho-social support, anti-retroviral therapy, and other treatment and care for HIV, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infections.
This pilot programme in Vietnam is the first community-based, integrated model in the country and represents another positive step for harm reduction around the world. This integrated treatment approach and pilot was approved by the Government of Vietnam and the Vice Minister of Health, Dr. Trinh Quan Huan. The clinics will operate seven days a week including holidays, with counseling and integrated services available five days a week. After six months, the VAAC will examine preliminary programme evaluation results. Then, in conjunction with other Government agencies, they will determine if the pilot should be expanded and scaled-up into other provinces.
Methadone is a long-term treatment for individuals experiencing problems related to their heroin use. It has consistently been shown in clinical studies to decrease illicit drug use, HIV and hepatitis C exposure risks, criminal activity, and overdose risks. It has also been shown to result in improvements in physical and psychological health, and social functioning.
For further information about this pilot, please contact Dr. Nguyen To Nhu
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1st May 2008
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International Sex Worker Community Release Collective Statement
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In recent months, sex worker organisations and advocates from around the world have united in order to participate in Harm Reduction 2008: IHRA’s 19th International Conference in Barcelona, Spain (11th – 15th May 2008). This has culminated in the formation of an International Sex Worker Harm Reduction Caucus and the development of a collective statement explaining their position and perspectives.
The Caucus aims to increase the participation of sex workers and their organisations and allies in discussions about harm reduction at the international level. It includes representatives from all over the world – including the Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP), the SWAN network (Europe), the Sex-workers and Allies Network (Sweden), the Scarlet Alliance (Australia), and the Sex Worker Outreach Project (SWOP), the Best Practices Policy Project (BPPP), Saint James Infirmary, the Desiree Alliance, Bayswan, and Different Avenues (all in the USA).
The Caucus has developed a statement that aims to represent the thoughts of sex workers around the world in terms of harm reduction and human rights. The statement is based, in part, on materials developed by ‘Stella’ – a Canadian sex worker rights organisation – and there has been input from sex worker groups in many countries and regions. The statement affirms that sex work is legitimate work rather than a ‘harm’ of drug use which needs to be reduced. In the spirit of “Nothing about us, without us”, the statement also calls for sex worker engagement, leadership and empowerment as essential elements for all programmes wishing to promote the health and safety of sex worker communities.
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 Click here to view the statement in English [PDF:206KB]
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Click here to view the statement in Spanish [PDF:197KB]
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Click here to view the statement in Russian [PDF:236KB]
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At Harm Reduction 2008, the Caucus has helped to organise two sessions on Wednesday 14th May on the topic of sex work harm reduction – a Living Room Session on ‘Reducing Harms in Sex Work: Practical presentations from peer-led programmes’, followed by a Concurrent Session on ‘Sex Work: The impact and harms of criminalisation and how to reduce them’. These sessions have been supported by scholarships from the Open Society Institute's Sexual Health and Rights Project (SHARP) and Mama Cash (Netherlands), and include presentations from all over the world.
The International Sex Worker Harm Reduction Caucus would like to encourage the wide distribution of this document. For further information, or to sign up to the statement (before 14th May 2008), please contact Penelope Saunders or visit the group at their exhibition booth at the conference (Level 1; Booth 1).
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30th April 2008
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AusAID Launches New Harm Reduction Programme
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In April 2008, Australia’s International Aid Agency (AusAID) successfully launched the HIV/AIDS Asia Regional Program (HAARP) and the programme website in Chiang Mai, where government representatives from around the world gathered for a UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board meeting.
HAARP is an eight year, $59m Australian Dollar programme that works with governments, regional agencies, civil society organisations, and drug user networks, to reduce the spread of HIV associated with drug use among men and women in South East Asia and China.
A range of government, regional agency, and civil society representatives attended the launch. Speakers included:
• Mean Chhivun (Director of the National Centre for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STI's in Cambodia)
• Thi Hai Oanh Khuat (Vietnam Civil Society Partnership Platform on AIDS)
• Paul Bekkers (HIV/AIDS Ambassador for the Netherlands)
• Peter Piot (Executive Director of UNAIDS)
• Phillippe Allen (Minister Counsellor, AusAID Bangkok)
One of the key issues raised by speakers in the launch was around the need for co-ordination, which was followed by an announcement from the Netherlands Government expressing a willingness to co-finance programmes in Vietnam.
The speakers all supported the objectives and principles of HAARP, and highlighting the need for the involvement of people who use drugs, the need to address stigma and discrimination, and the importance of a regional approach in terms of scaling-up harm reduction responses.
Please visit the HAARP website for highlights from each of the speakers and more information about the programme in general.
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29th April 2008
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International Journal of Drug Policy - Volume 19, Issue 2
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The April 2008 issue of the International Journal of Drug Policy – the official journal of the IHRA – is a special issue on the topic of ‘Women and Harm Reduction’. The Guest Editors - Susan Sherman, Adeeba Kamarulzaman, Patricia Spittal – have brought together pieces of key original research and policy analysis from South Asia, South Africa, North America and the UK on the intersection of gender, drug use, sex work and multiple vulnerabilities.
• Subadra Panchanadeswaran and colleagues report on an ethnographic study of Indian street-based sex workers and their experiences of violence from intimate partners and clients.
• Kate Shannon and her colleagues from Canada map environmental and structural barriers to the use of health and harm reduction services for women who use drugs and are involved in street-based commercial sex work.
• Azar Mehrabadi and colleagues describe various HIV-related vulnerabilities of young Aboriginal women in Canada.
• In the first of two evaluations of women-specific interventions, Catherine Magee and Emalie Huriaux examine the benefits and challenges of a drop-in programme for homeless and ‘marginally housed’ women in San Francisco.
• In the second evaluation, Wendee Wechsberg and colleagues report on the outcomes of a randomised control trial of an empowerment intervention to reduce drug use and HIV risk behaviour among black and coloured women in South Africa.
• From Asia, Danielle German and colleagues examine methamphetamine use, sexual partnerships and social networks among young Thai women.
• Suresh Kumar and colleagues report on a rapid assessment of condom use among females who are regular sexual partners of male drug users in five South Asian countries.
• Enisha Sari and Elizabeth Selhore highlight the challenges and achievements of non-governmental organisations working with women who use drugs in Delhi.
• Toby Seddon examines the history of the ‘British System’ of drug control in relation to gender.
• Mark Simpson and Julie McNulty present a policy analysis of the needs of drug using women and implications for delivery of drug services and treatment in the UK today.
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Click here to view the April 2008 journal issue
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29th April 2008
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Developing a Harm Reduction Network for Western Europe
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IHRA is pleased to be a part of initial discussions between key experts from ‘Western Europe’ to form the first harm reduction network for the region. These discussions, although at a very early stage, have led to the organisation of an open meeting on Tuesday 13th May during Harm Reduction 2008: IHRA’s 19th International Conference in Barcelona, Spain. IHRA would like to encourage any interested partied who are attending the conference to come along to the meeting and share their views on this subject.
Currently, independent harm reduction networks exist for various regions around the world – such as Asia, Central and Eastern Europe and Africa. For a variety of reasons, however, there has never been one for Western Europe. This may be because the national harm reduction networks have always been relatively strong. Also, there has always been a general acceptance of harm reduction policies in Europe, and a history of networking and co-operation between countries.
However, many believe that the region may now benefit from a network – which could help to strengthen harm reduction in Europe, assess and monitor the situation in Europe regarding drug use, drug harms, and drug policy, provide a platform for discussion and networking, contribute to global advocacy efforts, and challenge recent policy developments in the region – where there has been a perceived shift at national level away from public health and towards criminal justice, coercive treatment and public order.
Such a network could also strengthen harm reduction on a global basis by showcasing the existing harm reduction initiatives and best practice in Europe - which was the birthplace of the harm reduction approach.
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Click here to view the Discussion Paper designed to guide this meeting. [PDF:15.15KB]
The meeting itself will take place in Room 9 of the ‘Palau de Congressos de Barcelona’ from 14:00 to 15:00 on May 13th. It will aim to discuss the possibilities and perceived need for a ‘Western European Harm Reduction Network’, establish interest from individuals and organisations across the region, and agree next steps in terms of funding applications etc. It follows from a similar meeting held at the 13th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm in Ljubljana, Slovenia (in 2002) - at which it was unanimously agreed that a network was needed to cover “from Reykjavik to Athens, Helsinki to Lisbon”, but that there were insufficient resources at the time to establish one. Six years later, there may be new opportunities for such a network, and this open meeting could be the first step.
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Please click here for more information
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Please click to visit the Harm Reduction 2008 website
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29th April 2008
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IHRA Set to Launch Major New Report
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To coincide with Harm Reduction 2008: IHRA’s 19th International Conference in Barcelona, Spain, IHRA will be launching a major new report entitled ‘The Global State of Harm Reduction 2008: Mapping the response to drug-related HIV and hepatitis C epidemics’. This report aims to consolidate existing data on drug use, HIV and hepatitis C, document harm reduction policies and practices worldwide, and record the activities of relevant multi-lateral agencies (such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime).
‘The Global State of Harm Reduction 2008’ is the result of several months of hard work and collaborative efforts by IHRA and regional harm reduction networks and organisations around the world. It is the fifth publication from, and a major component of, the HR2 Programme – IHRA’s programme of research and advocacy on harm reduction and human rights funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID)Click here to view the existing HR2 Publications
The Global State is designed to be an advocacy and reference tool for a wide range of audiences, including international donor organisations, multilateral and bilateral agencies, civil society and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), organisations of people who use drugs, researchers and the media.
The report will also enable IHRA to engage with and work alongside a wide range of partners around the world – regional harm reduction networks, international human rights organisations and HIV and drug policy organisations – to advocate and lobby for harm reduction.
The report provides an overview of the situation and the harm reduction response at the global level (Section 1), more detailed overviews in each of the nine regions of the world (Section 2), and thematic explorations of a number of key issues for harm reduction (Section 3). It will be made available as a PDF on the IHRA website and IHRA Web-log on Sunday 11th May, in time for the official launch during the Plenary Session by the same name at Harm Reduction 2008 on Monday 12th May. Printed copies will be available during the IHRA conference from the IHRA exhibition stand (Booth 11 on Level 1 of the conference venueClick here for more information about Harm Reduction 2008
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Click here for more information about the HR2 Programme
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29th April 2008
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Countdown to Harm Reduction 2008
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Harm Reduction 2008: IHRA’s 19th International Conference is only a matter of days away, and we anticipate over 1,200 delegates to gather in Barcelona, Spain between Sunday 11th May and Thursday 15th May for this major event in the harm reduction calendar. The conference theme is ‘Towards a Global Approach’ and the Conference Organisers and the Executive Programme Committee have put together an excellent five-day programme with over 50 sessions covering the broadest ever range of topics. In keeping with this theme, as well, the conference aims to be as inclusive as possible – with the conference website available in English, Spanish, Catalan and French, and simultaneous translation available for numerous sessions in English, Spanish, French and Russian! There is also a comprehensive package of medical and healthcare facilities for delegates – including those on medications and those who use illicit drugs.
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Click here to preview the conference book – including the final programme
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Those who have already registered for the event will receive a final conference newsletter next week outlining the final logistical and travel arrangements and any late updates regarding the programme etc. Alternatively, the latest information and advice can be located on the conference website – www.ihraconferences.net.
If you have not yet registered for the event, there is still time to do so. For those who pay before Thursday 8th May 2008, the conference delegate fees are €459 for Spanish residents, €759 for delegates from lower income countries, €855 for paying IHRA members and €899 for all others. Please note that the delegate fee rises to €949 for all delegates if processed after May 8th, so register now!
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Click here to register now and pay your delegate fee
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To demonstrate the strength of the programme for Harm Reduction 2008, here are a few of the conference highlights:
• High-profile keynote speeches from Paul Hunt (the UN Special Rapport on the Right to Health), Michel Sidibe (UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director of Programmes), Antonio Maria Costa (Executive Director of the UNODC), and Michel Kazatchkine (Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria).
• A Plenary Session organised by IHRA on the ‘Global State of Harm Reduction’, and the launch of a major new report from IHRA with the same title.
• A Double Concurrent Session on the issue of ‘Universal Access to HIV Prevention and Treatment for Drug Users’ - organised jointly by the World Health Organisation (Headquarters and Europe Regional Office) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
• A wide range of Additional Meetings organised by a range of organisations – including WHO, UNODC, UNAIDS, the International Network of People who Use Drugs, the International Harm Reduction Development programme, the UN Regional Task Force on Injecting Drug Use, the Transform Drug Policy Foundation, and the International Drug Policy Consortium.
• A complimentary conference party featuring the conference’s own band – the Harm Reduction All-Stars!
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Updates from throughout the conference will be available via the IHRA Web-log – including the conference newsletters and commentary from IHRA’s HR2 (Harm Reduction and Human Rights) team.
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Please click here for further conference news and information
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22nd April 2008
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‘50 Best’ Document Collection on Alcohol Harm Reduction
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In April 2008, IHRA launched the fourth in a series of ‘50 Best’ document collections – this time focusing on Alcohol Harm Reduction. The ‘50 Best’ collections have been created by IHRA in order to provide free, accessible harm reduction resources on its website. The idea is to highlight around 50 papers which best summarise the evidence-base, reasoning and justification for various harm reduction interventions and approaches. These resources can then be used by other researchers, policy-makers, advocates or anyone interested in the field.
This latest collection is designed to improve knowledge and discussion on alcohol harm reduction and to complement IHRA’s other work in this area – including the new alcohol website and the Global Alcohol Harm Reduction Network (GAHR-Net). This particular set of documents was the result of several months of literature searches and research by IHRA, with the support and guidance of an International Reference Panel.
Alcohol is no ordinary commodity. It is a drug which brings health, personal, cultural and social benefits for many people around the world – yet causes significant mental, physical and social harms for many others. To effectively tackle this dilemma, comprehensive alcohol policies must be developed that focus on targeted populations, harms and behaviours as well as the availability and accessibility of alcohol at the population level. This means policies that complement traditional interventions (such as taxation and restricted licensing hours) by generating and embracing new ideas and more focused approaches (such as server training and interventions targeted at specific risk groups such as students or binge drinkers). This also means policies that engage all of the relevant stakeholders – including people who drink alcohol and the alcohol vendors and manufacturers.
This collection aims to provide information and best practice on a range of alcohol harm reduction interventions and policies. It aims to provide a one-stop resource for anyone who is interested in how practical, targeted harm reduction interventions can be applied to alcohol. It is intended for a broad range of audiences - including policy makers, practitioners, communities, the alcohol industry, international organisations, researchers and alcohol users around the world. The collection is separated into sub-topics and is fully searchable on the website – with most of the documents freely available to download online.
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Click here to see the 50 Best Collection on Alcohol Harm Reduction
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Click here to view IHRA’s alcohol website
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Previous ’50 Best’ collections from IHRA cover HIV prevention and care for injecting drug users, tobacco harm reduction, and the role of policing in harm reduction for illicit drugs – all of which are available to view and search on the IHRA website. Over the coming months, IHRA also plan to launch a further “50 Best” collection on harm reduction advocacy.
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Click here to view an overview of the “50 Best” collections in general
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15th April 2008
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IHRD Launch New ‘Harm Reduction Developments’ Report
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In March 2008, the Open Society Institute’s ‘International Harm Reduction Development’ (IHRD) programme have released a new report which provides a snapshot of some of the key developments in HIV prevention, policy, and treatment for people who inject drugs in developing and transitional countries. It includes overviews on issues such as community mobilisation, methadone and buprenorphine treatment availability, and harm reduction in prisons.
In 2007, people who inject drugs accounted for the largest share of HIV cases in at least twenty nations in Asia and the former Soviet Union – over 70% of HIV cases in some countries. Harm reduction interventions such as needle exchange and opioid substitution treatment programmes have made important inroads in many of these countries. However, coverage remains too low to successfully contain or reverse the HIV epidemic.
The report is currently available online in English, and a Russian edition will be launched in time for Harm Reduction 2008: IHRA’s 19th International Conference in Barcelona, Spain from Sunday 11th May to Thursday 15th May 2008.
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Click here to view the IHRD publication
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The IHRD programme was founded in 1995 to reduce HIV and other harms related to injecting drug use, and to press for policies that reduce stigmatisation of illicit drug users and protect their human rights. IHRD has supported more than 200 programmes in Central and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and Asia.
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Click here for more information about IHRD
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10th April 2008
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IHRA’s Annual General Meeting Notice
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Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the International Harm Reduction Association will be held on:
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Date: Wednesday 14th May 2008
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Time: 1pm (1300 hours)
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Venue: Palau de Congressos de Barcelona
Room 9
Montjuic 1, Avenue de La Reina Maria Cristina
Montjuic, Barcelona, Spain
(This is the venue for Harm Reduction 2008: IHRA’s 19th International Conference).
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The business of the meeting shall be pursuant to section 14 of the constitution:
• To confirm the minutes of the last Annual General Meeting.
• To receive a report from the IHRA Executive Council for the year ending 31st December 2007.
• To elect directors to fill five vacancies on the Executive Council from nominations received. The following directors are retiring as per Section 33 of the Constitution, but are eligible for re-election:
Ernst Buning, Netherlands
Monica Gorgulho, Brazil
Suresh Kumar, India
Danny Kushlick, England
• To transact any business of which at least seven days notice in writing has been given.
Nominations of members to the Executive Council must be delivered to the IHRA Administrator on or before 30th April 2008. Nominations shall be made on the appropriate form available by contacting Jennifer Curcio.
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For further details click here for IHRA news item re Call for Nominations.
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Click here to read the 2008 AGM Agenda [PDF:16KB]
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Click here to download the AGM proxy voting form [WORD:18KB]
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3rd April 2008
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UN Secretary-General Calls for Increased Protection for IDU
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Senior figures from the United Nations system have spoken out in favour of harm reduction and issued a call for Asian governments to change their “outdated” laws and abandon the “war on drugs” approach that criminalises injecting drug users (IDU) and other stigmatised groups, and to increase their health and human rights protections instead.
Speaking at the launch of ‘Redefining AIDS in Asia: Crafting an Effective Response’ – a new report by the Independent Commission on AIDS in Asia - the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that he fully supported the findings of the report and also called for the protection of the human rights of injecting drug users. The 258-page report urges Asian governments to provide a comprehensive package of harm reduction - with interventions such as needle and syringe exchange programmes and opiate substitution treatment - to counter one of the most serious regional epidemics in the world (there are nearly five million people living with HIV in Asia). At the launch, Dr Peter Piot (the Executive Director of UNAIDS) said, “I look to Asian Governments to amend outdated laws criminalising the most vulnerable sections of society, and take all the measures needed to ensure they live in dignity”.
These statements represent another shining endorsement of the harm reduction and human rights approaches to illicit drug use, and the report concluded that governments should abandon counterproductive ‘war on drugs’ approaches and avoid programmes that accentuate AIDS-related stigma. This comes just weeks after an opening session address by Antonio Maria Costa at the 51st Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), at which he called for a greater focus on human rights in drug enforcement activities, and for death penalty states to reconsider the use of capital punishment for drug offences.
However, these UN statements coincide with the launch of a new anti-drug campaign by the Thai Government, which has sparked fears across the world of a repeat of the thousands of extra-judicial killings and other human rights abuses that took place during the last Thai ‘war on drugs’ campaign in 2003.
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Click here to view ‘Redefining AIDS in Asia: Crafting an Effective Response’ [PDF:2.41MB]
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Click here for more information about HR2 - IHRA’s harm reduction and human rights programme
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1st April 2008
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Call for Nominations for the IHRA Executive
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Nominations are invited to serve on the International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA) Executive. IHRA is a UK company registered under Company Law in England and Wales, and also a Charity registered in England and Wales. Therefore, members of the Executive are both Directors of the Company and Trustees of the Charity.
IHRA’s ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ (our rules and regulations) may be found on the IHRA website - www.ihra.net/Governance. A description of the general duties of charity trustees may also be found on the UK Charity Commission website.
Nominations must be made by 30th May 2008 and sent to Jennifer Curcio. Nominations must include the following information:
a) The name of the person being nominated and their agreement to the nomination
b) The name of the person making the nomination (who must be a paying member of IHRA)
c) The name of a second person supporting the nomination (who must also be a paying member of IHRA)
d) A short biography of the nominee (around 100 to 200 words)
Elections will be held during the IHRA Annual General Meeting – which is scheduled to take place during Harm Reduction 2008: IHRA’s 19th International Conference. The meeting will take place on 14th May 2008 at 13.00 in Room 9 of the Palau de Congressos de Barcelona.
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