November, 2009
The First Regional Harm Reduction Conference of the Middle East and North Africa region was a great success. The event hosted by Middle East and North Africa Harm Reduction Association (MENAHRA) took place in Beirut from the 16th to the 18th November 2009.
WOLA's Senior Associate for Drug Policy, John Walsh, testified at a hearing on "Assessing U.S. Drug Policy in the Americas" at the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.
The European network Correlation is currently drafting a manual on harm reduction methodologies. Correlation is therefore seeking projects and organisations in Europe and abroad with experience in the field of outreach/early intervention AND/OR peer support for drug users.
The web portal is a tool for activists, community organizations, researchers, policy-makers, journalists, health workers and anyone who seeks quick and easy access to a wide range of resources about HIV, human rights and the law.
Harm reduction, human rights and drug user advocacy groups have sent a letter to UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe expressing their strong concern about his speech at the opening plenary of the Eastern European and Central Asian AIDS Conference. Mr Sidibe has responded reaffirming UNAIDS support for comprehensive harm reduction and decriminalisation of people who use drugs.
IAS and IHRA welcome the announcement from the Global Fund that it will extend its funding of HIV prevention programmes in Russia for another two years at a cost of US$24 million. The extension will save thousands of lives in a country where more than 1 million people are living with HIV and approximately 1.8 million people inject drugs.