During 2012 the Community Action on Harm Reduction project has been fully operational in 5 project countries providing services to people who inject drugs, their families and partners.
Harm reduction measures are needed to tackle the growing HIV epidemic in the Middle East and North Africa, aggravated by an increase in injecting drug users.
Four themes were discussed during the dialogue: the European Union drug policy agenda, cannabis policy reform, the future of the UN drug control conventions and the upcoming 55th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs.
The brief highlights the intersections between age, gender, and drug use, making the case for why young women who use drugs are particularly vulnerable to HIV and not adequately reached through mainstream health services.
The Working Group discussed a wide range of issues related to policing for public health in key populations, beginning from the way police behave at present to members of these groups and why this might be so, through to the characteristics of an ideal policing approach to public health.
