The COVID-19 pandemic is having a profound effect on the provision of health services across the globe and is further magnifying the existing barriers faced by people who use drugs in accessing harm reduction services. Programmes have had to adapt, and efforts are being made to enhance accessibility and ensure the continuity of harm reduction services in a context that is changing daily. But what does this look like in reality, and what practical measures can be put in place to ensure that people who use drugs continue to have access to essential services and support?

The aim of this third webinar in the series is to facilitate an interactive and more in-depth discussion on harm reduction responses to 

particularly people who use stimulant drugs

 in a time of COVID-19. This will build upon previous discussions and aims to encourage a positive and proactive response to people who use stimulant drugs during this time.

Click here to register to the 09:30 session

Click here to register to the 16:00 sesstion

Webinar #3 on COVID-19 and Harm Reduction Programme Implementation

This webinar organised by the University of Kent will enable participants to discuss and plan progress towards opening Supervised Injecting Facilities (drug consumption rooms).

It will feature short presentations on legal, policing, clinical, user involvement and research aspects, followed by discussions of the steps to take to open SIFs.

Presenters and discussants will include Niamh Eastwood (Release), Mat Southwell (drug user activist), Martin Blakebrough (Kaleidoscope), Jason Kew (Thames Valley Police), Megan Jones (Office of the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner), Rudi Fortson QC, and Alex Stevens (University of Kent).

Please register here to receive the joining instructions for the webinar. There is no charge.

We will use the #dcr channel on the 'Making a Difference Together' Slack workspace to share resources and ideas before and after the event. For information on the Slack workspace, please see https://www.collectivevoice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CV-Slack-guide-FINAL.pdf.

Webinar: Planning for supervised injecting facilities

Africa Criminal Justice Reform (ACJR) will facilitate a webinar discussion on COVID-19 and petty offences and its impact on marginalized groups in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Guinea Conakry.

Governments across Africa have put measures as a response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, through the establishment of either states of emergencies or states of disasters. While these and other additional measures are a response to the crisis, the enforcement of lockdown regulations has also created new sets of petty offences which previously did not exist. The poor and marginalized are worst impacted as many have been forced to breach the rules and regulations for the purposes of survival.

Members of the campaign on the Decriminalisation of Petty Offences in Africa will have a general discussion on the COVID-19 regulations in their respective countries, addressing the impact thereof on persons (including vulnerable groups such as women and girls) and highlighting their organizational efforts and recommendations to addressing an appropriate response to dealing with the pandemic.

Panelists will include representatives from South Africa, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Guinea Conakry.

4th June 2020 at 11:00am (GMT) 12:00pm (WAT) 13:00pm (SAST)

Register in advance for this meeting on Zoom following this link.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

COVID-19 and petty offences in West Africa

Pack your virtual bags: City Health International goes online!

Although we are unable to hold the conference as originally envisaged, we would now like to invite you to take part in a one-day virtual version of CHI. It’s free to attend and it’s open to everyone. In this era of misinformation and fake news, it is more important than ever to deliver evidence-based public health information. We are grateful to our dedicated speakers for their support in making this event happen.

Compassionate public health for compassionate societies’

 and the online event will take place on 

. You will be able to watch our speakers’ video presentations as they premiere online, or catch up with them later, wherever you are in the world.

For information about the programme click here

https://cityhealthinternational.org/conferences/2020-programme

Statement from the organisers on COVID-19 and City Health International

It is with regret that we must now confirm the cancellation of the City Health International conference, which was due to take place June 9 – 10 in Warsaw.

The decision to cancel the conference has been taken in the light of the rapid development and severity of the global COVID-19 pandemic, and the steps being taken by governments worldwide to combat the spread of the virus.

As an organisation rooted in the philosophy of harm reduction and belief in the principles of evidence-led public health policy, we feel that it is incumbent upon us to do all we can to protect the health and wellbeing of our conference participants, speakers, exhibitors, suppliers, venue staff and our own team. We also understand that making any plans for international travel at this time is fraught with uncertainty for all of us.

Our team is now working to create online materials, the details of which we will publish in due course, to keep you in touch with the work of some of the speakers who would have presented at the conference. This digital ‘event’ will be free of charge and open to all.

We are so sorry that we will not be together with you, our friends and colleagues, this June, for what would have been the tenth City Health International event. The goal of City Health International has always been to advocate for the adoption of consistent, inclusive and compassionate harm reduction policies and practices and we will continue to do this, throughout the rest of 2020 and into 2021, when we look forward to welcoming you back to City Health International in person.

Please keep an eye on our website, social media and e-newsletters for updates on the forthcoming virtual event. In the meantime, we wish all of you continued good health.

CHI Organizers

10th City Health International Conference - Online

Correlation - European Harm Reduction Network will host a webinar to assess the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on outreach work and how this affects the situation of people who use drugs (PWUD) and other marginalized groups. More specifically, we will address specific challenges and limitations and share experiences and good practice examples. The exchange is supposed to provide insights and will inform the development of practice and policy recommendations to ensure sustainable outreach activities during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. The webinar will include a selected number of short presentations and shared experiences, followed by a moderated discussion. Please click here to register.

 Webinar: Outreach work during the COVID-19 crisis – Exchange of experiences and potential ways forward

For decades, public health experts have recognized a strategy called “harm reduction” to address problems including HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and the use of alcohol and other licit and illicit drugs.

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic provides a new context in which to exercise the harm reduction strategy. Public health strategies must differentiate between higher‐risk and lower‐risk activities, support low‐risk activities, and seek ways to reduce overall risk. What does harm reduction for pandemics look like? Two experts on harm reduction and public health will address these issues and take questions from the audience.

, Award‐Winning Neuroscience Journalist; and Author of 

Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction

, Visiting Professor of Health Policy and Management, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University and Distinguished Fellow, Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity

Harm reduction as a public health strategy for pandemics

Transform is pleased to invite you to our upcoming webinar on cannabis regulation in the US, the first in a two-part series on lessons from cannabis regulation. This webinar launches our new report ‘Altered States: Cannabis regulation in the US’.

This new report compares how cannabis has been regulated in the eleven states that have legalised the drug – addressing developing good practice and issues that have been encountered along the way.

We will be joined by US and UK experts Shaleen Title, Kassandra Frederique and Dr Kojo Koram for a discussion on how states have sought to facilitate principles of social justice and equity in new regulatory regimes, including by widening market access and removing historical criminal records, with vary degrees of success. Kassandra Frederique is the Managing Director of Policy Advocacy and Campaigns at Drug Policy Alliance (DPA). Shaleen Title is a Commissioner serving the social justice seat on the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission. Dr Kojo Koram is a Lecturer in Law at Birkbeck College, University of London.

The webinar will include a presentation on the key findings of the report from Harvey Slade, Research and Policy Officer at Transform. Join us for this on 

Altered States: Cannabis regulation in the US – Ensuring social justice and equity

The potential impact of COVID-19 on economic markets is well known and widely discussed. But what about the markets we know less about, namely illicit markets? Drug markets, policymakers and people who use drugs are facing an unprecedented situation. Join this discussion - a blend of on-the-ground narratives and broader policy perspectives - to hear how we might best respond.

The online discussion will take place at 

Registration for this event will open on Tuesday 26 May after 10am.

Naomi Burke-Shyne (@NaomiSBS) is Executive Director at Harm Reduction International.

Gabriel Feltran is a Sociology Professor at Universidade Federal de São Carlos.

Kasia Malinowska (@OSFKasia) is Director of the Global Drug Policy Programme at Open Society Foundations.

Mark Shaw (@Mark_Shaw_) is Director of Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime.

Alexander Söderholm (@AlexSoderholm) is Policy Coordinator at LSE's International Drug Policy Unit.

John Collins (@JCollinsIDPU) is the Executive Director of LSE's International Drug Policy Unit

This event is part of LSE's public event series - COVID-19: The Policy Response.

COVID-19 represents an enormous challenge for the social sciences to help governments and non-governmental organisations respond to the economic and societal consequences of the pandemic. Part of LSE's response to this challenge is a series of online public events that will take place over the Summer Term.

This event in the series has been organised by the International Drug Policy Unit.

The International Drug Policy Unit (@LSEIDPU) is a cross-regional and multidisciplinary project, designed to establish a global centre for excellence in the study of international drug policy.

COVID-19 and illicit markets

The HIV2020 Conference has been reimagined as a series of virtual convenings that will take place June through October of this year.

HIV2020 Online will draw from the top-scoring, peer-reviewed program proposals we received from last year’s call for Expressions of Interest. In lieu of face-to-face meetings, these virtual sessions will include live-streamed keynote addresses from leaders in the field, panel presentations led by community advocates and community-led service providers, and virtual discussion rooms aligned with the HIV2020 themes of affinity, intersectionality, and solidarity. This ongoing virtual event will continue to reaffirm the leading role that communities play in the global response to HIV.

Given HIV2020’s focus on people living with HIV, gay and bisexual men, people who use drugs, sex workers, and transgender people, the virtual series will start in June with sessions aligned with the theme of affinity. Sessions will highlight the need to create space for civil society and showcase issues facing our communities. Although the event will no longer take place in Mexico City, many of our sessions will still highlight the priorities and needs of advocates in Latin America.

All virtual sessions offered as part of the HIV2020 Online series will be entirely FREE and made available as recordings online. Translation will also be available for all sessions in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Russian.

English | Español | Français | Português | русский

Note of annulation of the original conference due to COVID-19

The organizers of HIV2020, which include the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP), International Civil Society Support (ICSS), the International Network of People Who Use Drugs (INPUD), and MPact Global Action for Gay Men’s Health and Rights, unanimously came to this difficult decision in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

All paid HIV2020 registrants will be reimbursed.

HIV2020 organizers had hoped to issue an announcement in line with the International AIDS Society (IAS). However, as the Mexican government has suspended large events and gatherings through August and possibly beyond, we could not wait any longer. The organizers of HIV2020 prioritizes above all else the health and safety of our communities. We cannot overstate the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While we proposed coordinating the timing of announcements in a show of solidarity, the urgency of making and announcing a decision around HIV2020 given the Mexico announcement made such an action difficult. In addition, while we kept ourselves open to coordinating bridges between parallel virtual sessions, there was never a suggestion about merging the two events. We have and will continue to keep channels of communication open between ourselves and the IAS.

HIV2020 organizers are compelled to remind the public that our initial efforts to organize HIV2020 was in response to the ill-advised decision IAS made to bring AIDS2020 to the United States of America (U.S.). We remain firm in our belief that it is inappropriate to bring a global gathering on HIV to the U.S., given its discriminatory travel bans and immigration policies. HIV2020 was imagined as a safe alternative for people unable or unwilling to enter the U.S., but who nevertheless wanted to take part in global discussions about the HIV response.

HIV2020 was also meant to be a protest of the IAS’ structure and decision-making processes, which still lacks systematic and more meaningful strategies for engaging communities of people living with and most affected by HIV. HIV2020 also sought to create fit-for-purpose formats for the equitable deliberation of community- and key population-led responses, new science, best practice, developments in related fields including human rights, and their implications for the global HIV response.

HIV2020 organizers are still exploring alternatives to a face-to-face meeting. This may include virtual sessions (i.e., pre-recorded keynote addresses from leaders in the field, live-streamed panel presentations led by community advocates and community-led service providers, and virtual discussion rooms) aligned with the HIV2020 themes of affinity, intersectionality, and solidarity. Alternatives to a face-to-face meeting will most certainly shine a spotlight on the critical role communities have and must continue to play in the global HIV response.

More information will be shared in the coming days. Please stay tuned.

HIV2020 Online

A year ago, from May 31-June 2, 2019, the world’s ayahuasca community gathered in the city of Girona for the third edition of the World Ayahuasca Conference (AYA2019), the largest ayahuasca event in history.

Join us for a commemorative micro-event, featuring special guests and updates from our global community: Ernesto Evanjuanoy Chindoy, Miguel Evanjuanoy Chindoy, Riccardo Vitale, Wade Davis, Dennis McKenna, Atossa Soltani, Tabea Casique Coronado, Manari Ushigua, Dave Grillot, Jonathan Glazer, and Mareesa Stertz.

Whether you were there in person or not, the 2019 World Ayahuasca Conference was historic. Over 1400 people from 46 countries came together to celebrate diversity and to unite around a common vision – that ayahuasca can support our global society to reconnect to nature, to our human nature. To remember who we are.

To celebrate the power of unity, we’ve released a commemorative AYA2019 video (https://iceers.org/rememberAYA) and have opened access to all the filmed presentations on our Youtube channel (https://iceers.org/AYA2019videos)

World Ayahuasca Conference commemorative micro-event

By Monash University, Harm Reduction International and the Anti-Death Penalty Asian Network (ADPAN)

There are approximately 1280 people currently on death row in Malaysia.

A majority of these people have been convicted of drug-related offences. Many face socio-economic disadvantage, nationality and language barriers.

Harm Reduction International, Monash University

 have come together to investigate how the Malaysian criminal justice system affords people charged with drug-related capital offences access to justice and fair trial rights, from the stage of arrest through to death row.

this global event, launched by the former Chief Justice of Malaysia

, to explore the findings of this important report. You will learn about the experiences of those charged with drug-related offending, challenges faced by foreign nationals, and hear a firsthand account of being a trial advocate for death row prisoners.

Former Chief Justice of Malaysia Tan Sri Richard Malanjum

, Death Penalty Research Unit, Oxford University will outline the specific challenges foreign nationals on death row encounter followed by lawyer 

who will speak of his experience as a trial advocate for death row prisoners.

, Human Rights Analyst, Harm Reduction International will address the experiences of those charged with drug related offending in Malaysia.

Drug offences and the death penalty in Malaysia: Fair trial rights and ramifications - Report launch

Correlation - European Harm Reduction Network organised a webinar to discuss the impact of the current Covid-19 crisis on the operational capacity of drug consumption rooms (DCR). Professionals and experts in the field will share experiences, challenges, good practice examples and lessons learnt. The exchange is supposed to provide insights and will inform the development of practice and policy recommendations to ensure a sustainable provision of DCR services during and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic. Speakers include representatives of drug consumption rooms all over Europe. The recording of the event is available here.

Past Events