News & Announcements
New UNAIDS Statement on HIV Among Drug Users Affirms Need for Harm Reduction
In advance of the 2005 UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) meeting, UNAIDS released a "Joint UNAIDS Statement on HIV Prevention and Care Strategies for Drug Users." The statement calls for increased commitment to harm reduction measures in combatting injection-related HIV, and finds them consistent with international agreements on illicit drug use. The PCB is a government-civil society board which supports the development of global UN strategies on HIV prevention and treatment.
The statement concludes that "(t)here is strong and consistent evidence that (a) package of harm reduction interventions significantly reduces injection drug use and associated risk behaviors and hence prevents, halts and reverses HIV epidemics associated with injection drug use. Conversely, there is no convincing evidence of major negative consequences of such interventions, such as initiation of injecting among people who have not previously injected or an increase in the duration or frequency of illicit drug use or drug injection."
The Joint UNAIDS Statement on HIV Prevention and Care Strategies for Drug Users is available on the UNAIDS website.
