Transcript Global State of Harm Reduction Maria Phelan International Harm

A Global Perspective on Harm
Reduction
Maria Phelan
Harm Reduction International
What is Harm Reduction?
‘Harm Reduction’ refers to policies, programmes
and practices that aim primarily to reduce the
adverse health, social and economic
consequences of the use of legal and illegal
psychoactive drugs without necessarily
reducing drug consumption. Harm reduction
benefits people who use drugs, their families
and the community.
www.ihra.net/whatisharmreduction
Harm Reduction International
Our vision is a world in which individuals and
communities benefit from drug laws, policies
and practices that promote health, dignity and
human rights.
We work to reduce drug related harms by
promoting evidence based public health policy
and practices and human rights based
approaches to drug policy through an integrated
programme of research, analysis, advocacy and
collaboration with civil society partners.
Harm Reduction: coverage and
barriers
Opioid Substitution Therapy
Globally, for every 100 PWID,
only 8 are receiving OST
(range less than 1 to 61)
Needle and Syringe Exchange
Globally, 2 needles per PWID
per month (range less than
1 to more than 200)
Issues for broadening the response
• Lack of harm reduction in prisons and predetention facilities
• Poor access to viral hepatitis vaccination,
diagnosis, treatment and care
• Poor access to TB diagnosis and treatment
• Injection-related bacterial infections
• Overdose prevention and management
• Responding to amphetamine-related harms
Resourcing the response
Three cents
a day is not
enough!
• Huge barrier to scaling up
harm reduction
• Current spend is far too low
• $160 million spent on harm
reduction in 2007
• Less than 7% of estimated
amount needed to address
HIV among PWID
• Between 14 and 20 times
more funds are necessary
• Huge increase in investment
needed
Impact
• Global State of Harm Reduction Project
• Advocating for Harm Reduction at
International Level
• Network strengthening and collaborative work
Thank you!
Publications available at www.ihra.net
Contact: [email protected]