The International Harm Reduction Development Program (IHRD), part of the Open Society Public Health Program, works to advance the health and human rights of people who use drugs. Through grantmaking, capacity building, and advocacy, IHRD works to reduce HIV, fatal overdose, and other drug-related harms; to decrease abuse by police and in places of detention; and to improve the quality of health services. IHRD supports community monitoring and advocacy, legal empowerment, and strategic litigation. IHRD's work is based on the understanding that people unwilling or unable to abstain from illicit drug use can make positive changes to protect their health and that of their families and communities.

Harm reduction is a range of evidence-based approaches— such as overdose prevention, peer counseling and support, syringe access programs, antiretroviral treatment, or provision of medications that reduce craving for and use of opiates— which recognize that people unable or unwilling to abstain from illicit drug use can still make positive choices to protect their own health in addition to the health of their families and communities. Harm reduction can also include measures to reduce adverse consequences of drug policy and enforcement, including police extortion, detention without due process, mass incarceration, as well as suffering disease exposure and rights violations resulting from disproportionate punishments or penalties.

More information on harm reduction principles and common strategies can be found on the International Harm Reduction Association's website.