De los 446 resúmenes de ponencias que contenían los términos “reducción de daños”, “uso de drogas” y “políticas de drogas”, solo se aceptaron seis para su presentación oral y tres para la discusión en una mesa redonda

Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

Suscríbase a las Alertas mensuales del IDPC para recibir información sobre cuestiones relacionadas con políticas sobre drogas.

As advocates, officials, and health care professionals gather in Durban, South Africa this week for the International AIDS Society’s AIDS2016 conference, another group of people have moved out—and not by choice. In an attempt to make Durban appear more attractive to attendees of one of the world’s largest conferences on any global health or development issue, homeless people, drug dealers, and sex workers were removed from the central city. In other words, the very people who are at increased risk of contracting HIV and not receiving treatment are now even more vulnerable, and essentially rendered invisible.

The sanitization of the city set the tone for the conference. For instance, organizations like UNAIDS have called for increased investment in harm reduction and HIV prevention measures for people who use drugs—calls that are echoed around the globe by civil society and activists. And indeed, one of the AIDS2016 conference’s stated objectives is “promoting HIV responses that are supported by and tailored to the needs of at-risk populations or people living with HIV,” including people who use drugs.

Yet people who use drugs are largely ignored inside the conference. What’s more, of the 446 abstracts that contain the keywords “harm reduction,” “drug use,” and “drug policy,” only six were accepted for oral presentation and three for poster discussion—an exceedingly small number considering how important this population is considered by those trying to end AIDS by 2030.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

Thumbnail: Flickr CC World Bank Photo Collection

Cómo una Conferencia sobre el SIDA ignoró a una población en riesgo

Para conmemorar el Día Mundial de la Hepatitis, el 28 de julio, la Alianza Mundial contra la Hepatitis (WHA) y un gran número de organizaciones de la sociedad civil ponen en marcha una campaña global que persigue eliminar la hepatitis viral para 2030 bajo el lema de “NOhep”. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

Ever wonder what the world will look like in 2030? Will there be driverless cars, David Bowie hologram concerts, a self-sufficient Africa or even Blue Ivy headlining Glastonbury? These things are all unknown but what is certain, viral hepatitis can be eliminated if we take action now.

Today, on World Hepatitis Day (July 28th), the World Hepatitis Alliance is launching NOhep, a global movement to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030. The movement is calling on people across the world to sign up to the movement and take action to make the elimination of viral hepatitis our next greatest achievement.

Viral hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver due to a virus, is the 7th leading cause of death globally, accounting for 1.4 million deaths per year – more than HIV/AIDS or malaria. The most common of the viruses are hepatitis B and C, which affect up to 400 million worldwide and cause 80% of liver cancer deaths worldwide.

“We have the right to treatment for a cancer-causing virus” said Raquel Peck, CEO of World Hepatitis Alliance. “Let’s join together on World Hepatitis Day to stop millions of needless deaths and ensure everybody receives life-saving medication because only then we will have a world with “NOhep”. said Raquel Peck, CEO of the World Hepatitis Alliance and NOhepitivist

NOhep’s fundamental objective is to build awareness of viral hepatitis and the crucial role people can play, in their own lives, at more structural levels and in their communities, to help eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030. Based on the premise of social justice, NOhep is calling on all levels of society to take action to ensure the elimination of viral hepatitis is our next greatest achievement.

Nothing like this has ever been done for hepatitis before, and now, with the adoption of the World Health Organization’s Viral Hepatitis Strategy and the commitment by 194 governments to eliminate viral hepatitis, it can be a reality. By 2030, NOhep hopes to bring people together to save 7.1 million lives, by raising global awareness of hepatitis, helping those affected by hepatitis to speak up and by pressing governments to scale up resources to meet the targets outlined the strategy.

We may not know if The Simpsons will still be running, nor if our dogs will be able to speak to us by 2030, but one thing is for sure, if we take action today we can help eliminate viral hepatitis. If you want to find out more what could happen in 2030, watch the ‘2030 Year in Review’ video and join the movement at NOhep.org.

Campaña a favor de la eliminación de la hepatitis viral para 2030

Manila, 26 jul (EFE).- Viernes noche en una avenida de Manila. Los viandantes observan, enmudecidos, cómo Jennelyn Olaires llora desconsolada mientras abraza el cuerpo sin vida de su pareja, víctima de la despiadada guerra contra las drogas en Filipinas.

A sus pies, un pedazo de cartón con un mensaje que rebela el motivo por el que Michael Siaron, de 30 años, acaba de ser acribillado a balazos por hombres armados sin identificar a bordo de una motocicleta: "Soy traficante, no sigas mi ejemplo".

"Michael consumía drogas desde hace un año, pero no era ningún traficante. Era simplemente un conductor de una bicitaxi", acierta a explicar Jennelyn entre sollozos, con manchas de sangre de su pareja aun en el rostro.

El joven filipino es sólo uno de los cientos de ciudadanos de origen humilde que han muerto como resultado de la radical campaña contra las drogas y el crimen iniciada por el nuevo presidente del país, Rodrigo Duterte, que se está cebando con los más desfavorecidos.

Suscríbase a las Alertas mensuales del IDPC para recibir información sobre cuestiones relacionadas con políticas sobre drogas.

La guerra contra las drogas de Filipinas golpea a los más desfavorecidos

Desde que Rafael Correa llegó al poder en 2007, Ecuador se convirtió en el país que más redujo la desigualdad en América Latina, el índice Gini [que mide la desigualdad siendo 0 la igualdad perfecta y 100 la completa desigualdad] s

e redujo 8 puntos porcentuales entre 2007 y 2011

 –de 54,3 a 46,2–, llegando a los menores niveles de desigualdad del país desde que se registran estos datos. La base de estos cambios ha sido la construcción de un modelo de Estado eficiente, sobre todo en lo concerniente a la 

, recuperando la política como administración del Estado, en oposición al planteamiento neoliberal.

En lo referente a la política criminal también ha habido transformaciones. En un primer momento, se produjo la incorporación de los principios garantistas de la Constitución de 2008 al Anteproyecto del Código Penal: se realizaron, entre otros, cambios tendentes a la 

, sobre todo relacionados con el microtráfico. Sin embargo, a partir de 2010 hubo un giro repentino, y desde entonces, se comenzó a construir una 

, que rompía la línea garantista. Se pueden establecer dos etapas, a los que Jorge Vicente Paladines llama 'Estado de garantías' –2007 a 2009–, y 'Estado de policía' –2010 en adelante–

Giro punitivo en la política penitenciaria de Ecuador

Recientemente, en Sudáfrica, usuarios de droga, defensores de la reducción de daño y activistas combinaron esfuerzos, tomaron una oportunidad para superar la exclusión, y produjeron algo positivo e importante. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

Many stereotypes are ascribed to drug users, almost all of them negative. Of course, people who use drugs are just as diverse as the general population. But if there is one thing many of us are, it is resourceful.

We are also used to social exclusion, and we have ways of handling it.

Recently in South Africa, drug users, harm reductionists and advocates pooled resources, seized an opportunity to overcome exclusion, and produced something hugely positive and important.

The International AIDS Society (IAS) conference, AIDS2016, was held in Durban last week, from July 18-22. Its theme was “Access Equity Rights Now” and one of its supposed objectives was promoting the needs of key populations left behind in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.

So you’d have expected to hear a lot there about people who use drugs and their rights, a lot about harm reduction and drug policy—including calls for decriminalization.

Unfortunately this was not to be, as I wrote last week for the Open Society Foundations (OSF). Tellingly, of the 446 abstracts submitted for the conference that contained the the phrases “harm reduction,” “drug use” or “drug policy,” only six were accepted for oral presentation. Unforgivably, when around two million people are living with HIV related to injecting drug use, drug users were mostly ignored.

Although the main conference failed in this respect, a simultaneous event sought to address the real needs of people who use drugs—and I was proud to be involved.

Noticias

Cómo una Conferencia sobre el SIDA ignoró a una población en riesgo

Campaña a favor de la eliminación de la hepatitis viral para 2030

La guerra contra las drogas de Filipinas golpea a los más desfavorecidos

Giro punitivo en la política penitenciaria de Ecuador

"Tengo derechos como cualquier otra persona" - De cómo los usuarios de droga del mundo crearon algo grandioso en Durban