HaRdCOREhARMREdUCER: AIDS Conference

Jul 2, 2008

INPUD Activists Feedback on Methadone-form AIDSMexico2008 Conference

Methadone:

Article on www.INPUD.org website:

INPUD Activists Feedback on Methadone-form AIDSMexico2008 Conference

Dear Fellow Activists,

I thank Karyn Kaplan (Thailand), Milena Naydenova (Belgium) and Jason Farrell (USA) for the input they gave on the Methadone Form and the provision of methadone and Harm Reduction Services for the AIDSMexico2008 Conference.

The finalized INPUD comments on the proposed procedure and treatment form will be:

The as a whole the procedure is acceptable, but many important details are not clarified well enough.

Concrete the information card should include:

In what languages the document will be accepted? Spanis Only? In this case: translations needs to be authorized?

For people on non-methadone substitution treatment for opiate dependencies – are there other substitution programs that will accept clients from the delegates. If not – will these people (in case they cannot bring their own medication) get the equivalent of their dose in Methadone. If yes, how they'll convert the dose? If these people can bring their own medication – what are the local customs regulations?

What are the regulations for people who have prescription for non-opiate dependencies like amphetamine or prohibited substances – like Dia-morphine (heroine)?

In what form is the Methadone available:

- Sulphate or Alkaloid?

- In pills?, injectable?, syrup?

Al round Questions

Contacts and Information

Is the contact person reachable 24h a day?

To have not just one but TWO numbers to call if any problems?

Are translators available in the Spanish speaking only clinic?

Are there volunteers available to escort people to the clinic (especially first time)?

Can you provide a map showing the clinic in relation to the IAC venue?

And on this map the routs by public transport and taxi.

Is it possible to have a daily van to facilitate access?

Harm Reduction

Will the clinic have a list of people they expect to need services?

Is it possible to spread information on the availability of buprenorphine?

Is the clinic open on Sunday? What do people do on Sundays, if the clinic's closed?

Is there a local Harm Reduction center to provide (the best) HR equipment and DU-support?

Can they get takeaways, or do they have to go every day?

Is there free access to Narcan/Naloxone? Do hospitals offer it, do harm reduction centers offer it?

Health Emergencies; Contact person, procedures

Moscow AIDS Conference Blocks Drug Treatment Patients, Groups Charge

For Immediate Release

Moscow AIDS Conference Blocks Drug Treatment Patients, Groups Charge

The letter with full list of sign-on groups is online at:
http://www.soros.org/initiatives/health/focus/ihrd/news/petition_20080214

Kiev, Ukraine, February 14, 2008

In advance of a regional AIDS conference in Moscow, nearly 90 health and human rights groups from 27 countries today petitioned a top health official to allow drug treatment patients to enter Russia with their medications.

Methadone and buprenorphine are prescribed worldwide to treat addiction to opiates such as heroin, and have been shown to be effective tools in HIV prevention and treatment efforts. Yet Russia continues to ban the use of the medications for drug addiction treatment.

“Thousands of people throughout Eastern Europe and Central Asia use methadone and buprenorphine to overcome addiction and improve their lives,” said Vladimir Zhovtyak of the East European & Central Asian Union of People Living With HIV Organizations (ECUO). “In order to create truly effective AIDS responses, we need the full participation of marginalized populations including drug user communities.”

The petition was organized by ECUO along with the All-Ukrainian Network of People Living With HIV/AIDS, the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network, the European Opiate Addiction Treatment Association, the Russian AIDS activist group FrontAIDS, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, the International Network of People Who Use Drugs, the South Eastern European-Adriatic Addiction Treatment Network, and the International Harm Reduction Development Program of the Open Society Institute.

The groups are calling on Russia to make exceptions to the ban and accommodate conference participants who are undergoing methadone or buprenorphine treatment in their home countries. The petition was delivered today to Russia’s Chief Sanitary Doctor, Gennady Onischenko, and conference organizers, including the International AIDS Society and officials with the United Nations and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The Eastern European and Central Asian AIDS Conference (EECAAC) will be held in Moscow May 3-5. The meeting is being promoted as a leading forum for health experts and activists addressing the HIV pandemic. However, in a region where injection drug use accounts for more than 70 percent of cumulative HIV cases, many AIDS activists are former drug users who are undergoing methadone or buprenorphine treatment. These activists will be forced to choose between their personal health and participation in an important public health forum, say the groups.

“The Russian ban on methadone and buprenorphine, and the failure of global health leaders to address this issue directly, undermines the goals of the conference and the needs of people at risk for or living with HIV,” said Raminta Stuikyte of the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network.

Methadone and buprenorphine, which are on the World Health Organization’s Model List of Essential Medicines, are prescribed in many countries throughout the region, including Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, among others.

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