Despite the well-documented health and social impacts of substance use in general and injecting drug use specifically, harm reduction interventions remain very limited in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Only six countries implement needle and syringe programs (NSPs) - Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia - and four provide opioid agonist therapy (OAT) services as part of harm reduction - Iran, Lebanon, Morocco, and Palestine. Even in countries where NSPs and OAT are provided, accessibility and coverage remain a challenge, due to lack of funding, legal issues, stigma and discrimination, criminalisation of drug use, lack of political commitment.

Overdose response is minimal and limited to only two countries - Lebanon and Morocco.

No drug consumption rooms (DCRs) are currently available in the region nor programs specific to the use of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS).

Based on the above findings in the Global State of Harm Reduction 2020, this event will discuss the limited harm reduction provision in the MENA region, highlight progress and point to avenues to fill the glaring gaps.

The Global State of Harm Reduction 2020 - MENA chapter

The ‘This is not a webinar’ workshop series seeks to create space for sharing knowledge, experiences and learning with fellow campaigners.

In addition to the global workshops focusing on youth, prisons and messaging – IDPC and AfricaNPUD are inviting our members and partners from Africa to attend a regional communications workshop to explore and discuss the language of policy reform.

As stated in the title, this is not another webinar! It is designed as a space for a regionally-led discussion and exchange of ideas. The workshop will be held on Zoom, and will utilise group work, online tools,1 and – most crucially – the collective knowledge, expertise and insights of our network. This initial event will be held in English and French, with live translation provided.

The workshop will take place on Thursday 26th November 2020


09:00 Cape Verde Time Zone
10:00 Greenwich Mean Time (inc some of West Africa)
11:00 West Africa Time Zone
12:00 South / Central Africa Time Zone
13:00 East Africa Time Zone
14:00 Mauritius / Seychelles / Reunion

The access link will be sent individually to those who confirm their participation.

For further information, see the concept note below.

Please register your interest via the form in French and English.

'This is not a Webinar' Support Don't Punish regional communications workshop - Africa

The board of the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs is inviting all members and interested NGOs to participate in an

 online, informal membership meeting on Monday, 30 November.


In order to accommodate as many time zones as possible the meeting will be held twice:

30 November, 10 am to 11.30 am Central European Time (CET)

30 November, 5 pm to 6.30 pm Central European Time (CET)

The meeting will serve to discuss current issues and exchange updates and information. No formal decisions will be made by the committee, the draft agenda can be viewed on our website.
It will be held online via MS Teams and 

we kindly ask you to register here in order to attend the meeting

. The links will be shared a few days before the meeting.

We look forward to welcoming as many members as possible to one or both of the meetings.

Events

The Global State of Harm Reduction 2020 - MENA chapter

'This is not a Webinar' Support Don't Punish regional communications workshop - Africa

Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs informal meeting