Un centenar de líderes, profesionales y activistas en salud procedentes de 60 instituciones gubernamentales, de la sociedad civil y de comunidades afectadas han expresado inquietudes respecto a retos relacionados a la provisión de acceso a tratamientos esenciales para el VIH, la tuberculosis y la dependencia a opiáceos en áreas de Donbas en Ucrania Oriental. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

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Joint call signed by: Svitlana Moroz, Chair of the Board, Eurasian Women Network on AIDS; Aida Kurtovic, Vice Chair of the Board, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Michel Kazatchkine, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia; Lucica Ditiu, Executive Secretary, STOP TB Partnership; Mark Dybul, Executive Director, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

On behalf of the 100 health leaders, professionals and activists from 60 government institutions, technical partners, donors, civil society and affected communities committed to ending the tuberculosis and AIDS epidemics in Eastern Europe and Central Asia who gathered at Global Plan to Stop TB & Eastern Europe and Central Asia Consultation on Sustainable Impact, on 23-24 July 2015 in Istanbul, the Stop TB Partnership and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria express grave concerns over challenges in providing access to essential treatments for HIV, tuberculosis and opioid dependence in areas of Donbas in East Ukraine, where:

Nearly 8,000 HIV patients, including children and prisoners, are in danger of running out of life-saving antiretroviral medicines by mid-August. The Global Fund has approved an emergency fund grant to UNICEF in the amount of US$3.7 million for the duration of 12 months to prevent disruptions in the delivery of HIV treatment to the areas of Donbas affected by the military conflict.

Stocks of medicines for drug-resistant tuberculosis are insufficient, and further shortages – leading to more tuberculosis and more drug resistance – are expected.

More than 800 patients that had been receiving opioid substitution therapy can no longer access their treatment, and another 250 patients receive only a fraction of their regular dosages due to a complete lack of medicines.

Patients should not be forced to pay for the conflict with their lives and their health. All parties involved should find solutions to solve this humanitarian crisis.

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Llamado conjunto respecto a la crisis de salud en Donbas,  Ucrania Oriental 

Esta entrevista con Tom Kramer, del Instituto Transnacional, brinda una aguda percepción sobre el vínculo existente entre drogas y desarrollo en Birmania, y las dificultades para identificar medios de subsistencia alternativos para comunidades que cultivan amapola. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

"For many communities in Myanmar who grow opium, for them opium is not the problem, it is the solution to their problems," said local project consultant, Tom Kramer, from the Transnational Institute. And therein lies one of the greatest challenges for policy makers in the fight to eradicate the scourge of drug crops in developing countries.

Birmania: El nexo tierra-drogas 

Este artículo de la red de políticas sobre drogas de África Occidental discute el enfoque hacia las drogas en África Occidental, y sus implicancias para Ghana. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

Drug control policies and accompanying enforcement practices often entrench and aggravate the systematic discrimination against people who use drugs and impede access to controlled essential medicines for those who need them for therapeutic purposes. In an attempt by government to control drugs using other measures, there are times these efforts results in serious human rights abuses such as mass incarceration, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention and ill treatment by the police. Some local communities faces severe human right abuses as a result of campaigning against the eradication of illicit crops which are grown and harvested within their community which results in environmental damage , displacements and damage to health through frequent chemical spraying.

In West Africa and around the world, ‘the war on drugs’ has proved futile and the severe sanctions meted out to people have yielded no results. The use of drugs such as marijuana (weed) and cocaine in West Africa continues to increase day by day as West Africa is now the leading hub and transit of drugs to other continents such as Europe and Asia. The insecurity we face in Africa and other continents is based on the lack of a proper approach in tackling drug related issues and solving the high rate of drug addictions in Africa has taken a new dimension that threatens the security, governance and development of many countries in the African region.

The law policies we have in Africa, especially Ghana my country of origin, focus on punishment rather than solutions. We criminalize and discriminate drug users and punish them with minimum jail sentences of 5 years. The HIV epidemic is fuelled by the criminalization of people who use drugs. An estimated 11-21 million people inject drugs worldwide, with HIV infection rates amongst this group as high as 30% to 37% in Russia, 40% to 43% in Indonesia with about 30% HIV infections outside of sub-Saharan Africa and up to 80% of infections in Eastern Europe and central Asia and no records so far in West Africa.

The Global “war on drugs” has been fought for 50 years without a preventing the long-term trend of increasing drug supply and use. The UN office on Drugs and crime (UNODC) has identified many serious “unintended negative consequences” of the war on drugs which includes the widespread human rights abuses. The catalogues of Human rights abuses are almost unending and without exception, infringe individual human rights even within countries that pride themselves on the respect for the rule of law. Ghana, the policies adopted to deal with the country’s drug problem have been mainly prohibitive and punitive in nature.

The Narcotic Drugs (Control, Enforcement and Sanctions) Act, 1990 (PNDCL 236) consolidates all the laws relating to illicit dealing in narcotic drugs and provides for provisions that will prevent illicit narcotic drug dealers from benefiting from their crimes. The Act established a Narcotics Control Board with oversight responsibilities of collating and disseminating information on narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances among others.

The drug situation in Ghana includes the production, use and trafficking of narcotic drugs such as heroin, cocaine and marijuana as well as the use of psychotropic substances. Since the dawn of independence has mapped out strategies to combat illicit usage, abuse and trafficking of narcotics drugs such as cocaine, heroin and marijuana.The law policies we have in Africa especially Ghana consist of more punishment than solutions.

Red de políticas sobre drogas de África Occidental: Reflexión desde la sección de Ghana 

Uruguay recomienda "la adopción de políticas de control y regulación del mercado de cannabis" como la que está en vigor en ese país, para enfrentar el problema mundial de las drogas, según un documento presentado para aportar a una reunión especial de la ONU, en 2016, que fue facilitado a Efe.

"Estamos diciendo al mundo que la regulación del mercado de la marihuana es un camino posible y nos basamos en la frase del propio secretario general de las Naciones Unidas, Ban Ki-moon, de considerar todas las opciones", dijo a Efe en Montevideo Milton Romani, secretario general de la Junta Nacional de Drogas (JND).

Uruguay aprobó en diciembre de 2013 la ley que regula la producción y la comercialización de marihuana bajo el control del Estado, impulsada por el expresidente José Mujica (2010-2015) como una estrategia para luchar contra el narcotráfico y convirtió al país en pionero en este enfoque de las políticas antidrogas.

El documento fue presentado por la misión uruguaya en Viena ante la junta preparatoria de la Sesión Especial de la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas sobre el problema de las drogas, conocida como Ungass, que será realizada en Nueva York en abril del próximo año.

Noticias

Llamado conjunto respecto a la crisis de salud en Donbas, Ucrania Oriental

Birmania: El nexo tierra-drogas

Red de políticas sobre drogas de África Occidental: Reflexión desde la sección de Ghana

Uruguay recomienda adoptar política de regulación del mercado de la marihuana