Le coût humain des changements de politique : les conséquences des coupes de l’aide étrangère des États-Unis sur les programmes de réduction des risques et les personnes usagères des drogues

L’enquête de l’INPUD met en lumière les effets dévastateurs des coupes de l’aide étrangère sur les programmes de réduction des risques et les réseaux communautaires, appelant à des financements d’urgence, un soutien national accru et une intensification du plaidoyer. Pour en savoir plus, en anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

The impact of US foreign aid cuts on the health and well-being of people who use drugs has been massive and monumental. The International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD) is conducting a rapid assessment to understand the depth and breadth of this impact. Over the course of 5 days, INPUD received 76 responses to its online survey evaluating the real-time consequences of these new US policy directives on the lives of people who use drugs and their service providers. Preliminary findings highlight:

• The severity of funding cuts have “cut harm reduction services at the knees”, gutting the organisational capacity of community-led service provision, forcing service disruptions, closures and mass lay-offs of harm reduction’s essential workforce (i.e., peer educators, outreach personnel, clinic staff).
• Evidence-based harm reduction models are at-risk: Harm reduction is founded on strong peer-led front-line service delivery, such as outreach, peer education, and community leadership and engagement. Without peer-driven harm reduction services, the entire harm reduction model and its systemic infrastructure is placed at significant risk.
• Sustainability is bleak for rights-based harm reduction models that have proven effective in the fight against HIV and hepatitis C: The collapse of harm reduction services will have direct human impact, meaning a return to raging HIV, hepatitis C and overdose epidemics among people who use drugs globally.

The following recommendations are based on INPUD’s preliminary findings presented below:

• Alternative pooled funding mechanisms must be urgently established by global partners to prevent service collapse and resultant spiking rates of new HIV/HCV infections, and preventable overdose deaths.
• National governments must step up to support harm reduction services previously reliant on U.S. funding, including equitable access to opioid agonist treatment (OAT) and social contracting arrangements that prioritise community-led responses.
• International and multilateral organizations must prioritize emergency resource allocation to affected programs and key populations, including for people who use drugs.
• Advocacy efforts must be intensified to restore funding and highlight the long-term public health consequences of these directives.