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Warsaw 2007

Warsaw 2007 - Thailand

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Overview

Programme & Abstracts

Conference Newsletters

Links

Overview

The 18th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm took place from 13th – 17th May 2007 in Warsaw, Poland. The five-day event was attended by over 1,200 people from 89 countries around the world (a record high number of countries). There were around 90 sessions (comprising some 300 oral presentations and 300 poster presentations) covering a wide range of topics including illicit drugs, alcohol, tobacco, sex work, HIV/AIDS, young people, and prisons. The speakers at the conference were drawn from major international organisations and donors (such as UNAIDS and the World Bank), leading academics, advocates and practitioners from around the world.

Prior to the official opening of the conference, a wide range of meetings and satellite events took place – including the 2nd Congress of the International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD) and meetings organised by the World Health Organization, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the International Youth Harm Reduction Initiative, and the International Network of Harm Reduction Nurses. There was also a meeting between all of the regional harm reduction networks to discuss future coordinated campaigns and advocacy efforts.

The overall theme of the conference was “Harm Reduction Coming of Age” – a title which, in the words of Professor Gerry Stimson (the IHRA Executive Director) in the opening session, “reminds us of what has been achieved so far, what is still left to achieve, and how to take harm reduction forward”. Also in the opening session, JVR Prasada Rao from (the UNAIDS Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific) told delegates that “focused harm reduction programs which reach people who inject drugs must be built into the national AIDS plans”, and that “access to antiretroviral therapy among this group is unacceptably low due in part to lack of information, exclusion and widespread stigma and discrimination".

The topics examined at the conference included alcohol harm reduction, sex work harm reduction, legalisation and regulatory frameworks, drug consumption rooms, harm reduction in prisons, stimulant and party drug use, medication assisted treatment, young people, tobacco harm reduction, needle exchange, advocacy case studies, and universal access. Additionally, the official rapporteur presentation for the conference identified major shifts at the conference towards ‘bottom-up’ (or ‘grass-root’ movements), identifying specific drug use settings and groups, dealing with a wider range of harms (rather than just HIV/AIDS) and focusing on the developing world.

As well as the programme and conference content, this event provided the opportunity for delegates from all five continents and all fields of harm reduction to meet and exchange their views, experiences and knowledge. The conference team would like to give our thanks to everyone who attended the event or supported us in other ways. In the closing session, Lady Jocelyn Keith (from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies) delivered a wonderful summary in the form of a fable in which she (as the fairy godmother) bestowed four birthday gifts to a teenager named IHRA – the gifts of Imagination, Humanity, Reliability and Agility for future years. We hope that these gifts will hold us in good stead for the future.

Programme & Abstracts

Click here to view the conference abstracts book [PDF: 2.98MB]

Click here to view the Conference Reader [PDF: 3.16MB]

Conference Newsletters

Daily newsletters at the conference are designed to keep delegates up-to-date with the latest developments and announcements from the conference organisers, and also to provide a record of events.

Click here to view ‘Daily Update’ (Monday 14th May) [PDF:375KB]

Click here to view ‘Daily Update’ (Tuesday 15th May) [PDF: 464KB]

Click here to view ‘Daily Update’ (Wednesday 16th May) [PDF:324KB]

Presentations

Below are some of the presentations from the conference – listed in the order in which they were presented. If you presented at the conference and would like your presentation to be uploaded onto this website, please send it to Jamie Bridge.

Sunday 13th May 2007

Opening Session

Gerry Stimson [PDF:36KB]

Monday 14th May 2007

P2 – Harm Reduction in Prisons

Annette Verster [PDF:221KB]

M3 – Alcohol: Practical Harm Reduction

Marjana Martinic [PDF:697KB]

Jack Law [PDF:480KB]

David Silcock [PDF:1.69MB]

Moruf Adelekan [PDF:591KB]

C1-5 – Local Responses to Alcohol Harms

Tony Duffin [PDF:104KB]

Bruna Marchiori [PDF:283KB]

Fredrik Welander [PDF:2.69MB]

Clare Lushey [PDF:75KB]

Tuesday 15th May 2007

M4 – Prevention, Treatment & Care

Mauro Guarinieri [PDF:265KB]

C3-3 – Involving Law Enforcement in Harm Reduction

Jack Cole (http://leap.cc/Publications/End_Prohibition_Now.ppt)

Greg Denham [PDF:224KB]

Wednesday 16th May 2007

P4 – Empowering Communities

Rachel Wotton [PDF:68KB]

M9 – Harm Reduction for & by Sex Workers: Programme Successes & Challenges

Linda Cusick [PDF:74KB]

C4-6 – Human Rights, Criminal Law & Public Health

Rick Lines [PDF:236KB]

C5-1 – Drug User Involvement (The Real Deal): Doing It For Ourselves

Jason Farrell [PDF:626KB]

Jason Farrell is a freelance harm reduction trainer and is available to deliver training based on this presentation. Please contact Jason Farrell for more information.

Thursday 17th May 2007

P5 – Regulatory Frameworks: Alcohol, Tobacco & Illicit Drugs

Mark Haden [PDF:329KB]

Closing Session

Lady Jocelyn Keith [PDF:25KB]

Rapporteur Report

The appointed Conference Rapporteur for this event was Dr. Jacek Moskalewicz, the Head of the Department of Studies on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence at the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology in Warsaw, Poland. Dr. Moskalewicz was assisted in his task by the Rapporteur Team - Damon Barrett, Michal Bujalski, Kasia Dabrowska, Harald Klingemann, Justyna Klingemann, Artur Malczewski, and Marta Struzik.

Click here to view the Rapporteur Team’s Conference Report [PDF:147KB]

Click here to view the Rapporteur Presentation from the closing session [PDF:75KB]

IHRA Awards

The International Rolleston Award

This was awarded to Dr. Vladimir Mendelevich for his continued advocacy and support for harm reduction and medication assisted treatment in Russia in the face of widespread vilification and the threat of imprisonment for his stance.

Click to view history of the International Rolleston Award

The National Rolleston Award

This was presented to Marek Zygadlo in recognition of his pioneering efforts in Poland, where he has been at the forefront of harm reduction for over 20 years.

Click to view history of the National Rolleston Award

The Travis Jenkins Award

This was awarded to Alexandra (Sasha) Volgina, a Russian drug user activist who works in a hostile environment to ensure that drug users are seen not as problems, but as partners and experts.

Click to view history of the Travis Jenkins Award

Film Festival

The 4th ‘Drugs and Harm Reduction Film Festival’ took place at the Warsaw conference in 2007. The event was an overwhelming success with large crowds and a packed programme showcasing work from around the world.

The 2007 Film Festival Award was won by Eugene Zaharov and Sergey Bogatyrev from Russia for their film entitled “FrontAids”. For more general information about the Drugs and Harm Reduction Film Festivals, please visit www.burnet.edu.au/home/chr/projects/film.

Click here to view the Film Festival programme and abstracts