IHRA newsletter October 2007

IHRA

Gerry Stimson

	‘Get Tested’ - World Hepatitis Awareness Day World Hepatitis Awareness Day 2007 took place on October 1st and, in order to promote the event, a report has been launched by the Central and Eastern European Harm Reduction Network which shows that more than 90% of people with the hepatitis C virus do not know they are infected. The report was presented to the media by Professor Gerry Stimson (IHRA Executive Director). Find out more back to top
	Drugs Policy Experts Gather for IHRA Meeting in Lisbon In September 2007, IHRA and the International Drug Policy Consortium hosted a seminar in Lisbon to discuss civil society activities in the build-up to the 2008 review of the United Nations illegal drugs strategies and the progress that has been made against the ‘Political Declaration’ adopted in 1998 by all of the UN member states. The discussions at this seminar are to be turned into a report which is due for release in the coming months. Find out more back to top
	UN Human Rights Report Praises Harm Reduction Reporting from a recent visit to Sweden, Professor Paul Hunt (the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health) has stated that harm reduction is not only an essential public health intervention, but crucially, that it “enhances the right to health” of injecting drug users. Find out more back to top
	IHRA Host Sub-Saharan Africa Harm Reduction Meeting This month, IHRA are hosting a ground-breaking meeting in sub-Saharan Africa to bring together representatives from civil society, UN agencies and key donors with the aim of discussing emerging patterns of drug use and HIV in the continent and the possibility of establishing a new regional harm reduction network. Find out more back to top
	Argentinean Government Officials Support Harm Reduction Three senior government officials in Argentina made public statements in favour of harm reduction at the ‘5th National Conference on Drug Policy’ in August 2007. They spoke out for harm reduction as a policy approach, and outlined their commitment to prosecuting drug traffickers while improving health care of drug users. Find out more back to top
	October 2007 Article of the Month This month’s article is an editorial by Andrew Ball (World Health Organization) which introduces a recent ‘Special Issue’ of the International Journal of Drug Policy on the topic of ‘HIV treatment and care for injecting drug users’. The article - entitled ‘Universal Access to HIV/AIDS Treatment for Injecting Drug Users: Keeping the Promise’ – details some of the barriers that must be overcome in order to achieve the UN’s goal of universal access to HIV treatment by 2010. Find out more back to top
	‘CLAT4’ in Milan, Italy The ‘4th Latin Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm’ (“CLAT4”) will be held from November 29th to December 1st 2007 in Milan, Italy. The conference is supported by the Ministry of Social Solidarity and the Province of Milan, and aims to openly discuss the impact of “Two Decades of Harm Reduction: From the HIV/AIDS emergency to an innovative model of public policy”. The main objective of the conference will be to agree and launch the ‘Milan Alliance’ guidelines - a collection of recommendations aimed at policy makers and planners that are active in the field of drug use. Find out more WWW.HaRdCOREhARMREdUCER.BE DrugWarLog ArtCoreFromTheHardCore