 is July 28th, and whilst some 500 million people globally are living with hepatitis B or C, the day barely receives any coverage, and there is a massive lack of investment in promoting awareness of this lethal virus which ultimately causes liver cancer and cirrhosis. Because hepatitis C is primarily transmitted through blood to blood contact, the vast bulk of the disease burden falls on people who inject drugs.

Some 10 million of the world’s 16 million people who inject drugs are thought to be infected with hepatitis C, yet because of a chronic lack of surveillance and testing, many are unaware that they are carrying the virus until it has wrought irreparable damage. The failure to adequately respond to this public health catastrophe, one that the WHO has called a “viral time bomb”, is very substantially driven by stigma and drug war politics. The heavy disease burden borne by the injecting community is stoked by investment in repressive responses rather than the basic preventative measures that could avert this entirely avoidable suffering and mass death. The 

The Negative Impact of the War on Drugs on Public Health: The Hidden Hepatitis C Epidemic

 state that “instead of investing in effective prevention and treatment programmes to achieve the required coverage, governments continue to waste billions of dollars each year on arresting and punishing drug users – a gross misallocation of limited resources that could be more efficiently used for public health and preventive approaches. At the same time, repressive drug policies have fuelled the stigmatisation, discrimination and mass incarceration of people who use drugs”.

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

Defuse the hepatitis C “time bomb”;  end the war on people who use drugs.

International Overdose Awareness Day is part of a growing global program to help individuals, families, health professionals, and communities to recognize the signs and symptoms of overdose and know how to respond, so lives can be saved.

International Overdose Awareness Day provides an opportunity for people to publicly mourn for loved ones, some for the first time, without feeling guilt or shame.

“To my beautiful son Shawn. We will always celebrate your beautiful life, love and laugh. On Sept 20, 2012, heroin took you away from us at only 22 years old. My baby you will always be. Soar my ninja turtle, soar. And we will never forget … Still I rise. Love. Mommy.” – a loving tribute for International Overdose Awareness Day.

Find out more at www.overdoseday.com and how to be involved in your community along with the hundreds of organizations and thousands of people committed to reducing stigma associated with overdose.

There are many ways you personally and your organisation can become involved with International Overdose Awareness Day:

Speaking publically or through media activity;

Arranging for tributes from affected individuals and families;

Wearing the silver badge – ORDER SOME TODAY;

Campaigning for policy change, such as for establishing and expanding naloxone programs to prevent opioid overdose deaths.

Please distribute this email throughout your networks, including your professional colleagues.

Wearing the badge can signify one’s personal experience of losing someone cherished or can demonstrate support for those bearing a burden of grief.

Contact us at info@overdoseday.com if you would like any assistance or advice in framing your support for International Overdose Awareness Day.

Follow the International Overdose Awareness Day on Twitter at @OverdoseDay or on Facebook.

International Overdose Awareness Day 2013

Although many positive changes have happened since the last World Hepatitis Day - mainly due to community mobilization around the world and its consistent efforts: progress on prioritizing hepatitis C treatment on an international level (inclusion pegylated interferon to the WHO List of Complementary Medicines); progress on putting hepatitis C issues higher on national political agendas (Ukraine developed the State Program to fight Hepatitis; Georgia adopted a national program to finance hepatitis C treatment in prisons); and progress on hepatitis C treatment development (pharmaceutical companies Janssen and Gilead submitted new hepatitis C treatment drug applications) - there are still many problems around access to hepatitis C treatment that need to be addressed.

Understanding that the community is a driving force for change on this subject, EHRN in commemoration of World Hepatitis Day (July 28) is launching a 

Call for Action: ‘I advocate for hepatitis C treatment’

. It calls on people who use drugs, and people living with HIV and hepatitis to share their personal stories to help advocate for access to hepatitis C treatment. The goal of the Call for Action is to strengthen communities.

EHRM will wait for your stories till 28 of August, 2013. Address to send a story: erika@harm-reduction.org

Call for action: I advocate for hepatitis C treatment

Naloxoneinfo.org is a harm reduction initiative, directed at drug users, their families, friends, and other laypeople (like outreach workers and staff of harm reduction services), to provide the tools and resources needed to access, run a program, or advocate for expanded naloxone access.

Access to naloxone (a safe, cheap, and highly-effective antidote to opioid overdose) through this site represents the first time a coalition of international organizations has come together in a single effort to promote the lay distribution of naloxone.

Naloxoneinfo.org: Helping prevent overdose and save lives 

On the footracks of the official announcement of Hepatitis C treatment in prisions around Georgia, the Ministry of Health announced that it would launch a program for the general population and reach universal coverage by 2016.

The exorbitant price of Pegylated-Interferon, the backbone medicine of hepatitis C treatment, produced and patent-protected by the pharmaceutical giants Roche and Merck, proved to be the biggest obstacle for the Georgian government.

Now, backed by Georgian civil society and patient groups putting pressure on Roche and Merck to reduce their prices, the Georgian government will fiercely negotiate with these companies to reach a price that will ensure their goal of universal coverage can be reached.

The price Georgia secures will not only represent a victory for the country, but for the global access to hepatitis C treatment movement—a movement consisting of patients and their advocates fighting to gain access to these lifesaving medicines, and urging governments and pharmaceutical companies to put lives before profit.

Georgia: A leader in the global fight against Hepatitis C

The converging issues of heroin drug dependance and HIV have emerged as a public health emergency in Puerto Rico. With the government overwhelmed, non-profits groups try to fill the void.

For the last three decades, Puerto Rico's public health officials have unsuccessfully fought a full-scale public health crisis. Today, the island has one of the highest HIV/Aids infection rates in the US, and more than 50% of all newly reported cases come from intravenous drug use.

Overwhelmed and chronically underfunded, the existing framework of health programs struggles to serve the island's estimated 60,000 intravenous drug users, so a patchwork of groups tries to fill the void. In 2007, Joseph Carroll Miranda helped start El Punto en la Montaña, a group that offers medical supplies and services to addicts who live in rural areas, out of the reach of government services.

Operating on a shoestring budget of about $50,000 a year – most of it from non-profit donors in the US – Miranda and a small team of volunteers deliver clean needles, juice and snacks to addicts each week. They bring along educational pamphlets, too, with explanations on how to use syringes and warnings about reusing needles. Sometimes he puts them in detoxification programs.

Puerto Rico's ignored public health crisis: Drug use and HIV

Youth RISE are partnering with UNAIDS to develop a guidance document targeted at young people (u18) who inject drugs. Youth RISE will be holding 16 focus groups consultations in different countries to ensure the upcoming guidelines document is informed by young people with experience of injecting under the age of 18, and hence make it an assesible tool for these key populations at risk. 

Youth RISE / UNAIDS new project on young people who use drugs

UNAIDS was the first United Nations programme to have formal civil society representation on its governing body. It is guided by the Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) with representatives from 22 governments, the UNAIDS Cosponsors and an NGO Delegation of 5 delegates and 5 alternate delegates.

The NGO Delegation to the UNAIDS PCB has vacancies for two-year terms beginning 1 January 2014 and ending 31 December 2015, for the positions mentioned below.

The UNAIDS PCB is the key global forum for HIV and AIDS policy. The Delegation is important to the effective inclusion of community voices; Delegates represent the perspectives of civil society, including people living with HIV, within UNAIDS policies and programming.

This represents a unique opportunity for committed activists and advocates to make a difference to HIV and AIDS policy implementation in their regions.

The UNAIDS PCB NGO Delegation is now recruiting for:

Applications from people living with HIV are particularly encouraged.

Call for Nominations of PCB NGO Delegates 2014-2015

A majority of countries in the Southeast Asia implement some some form of harm reduction. However, many programmes lack government funding, are ill-equipped to meet demand, or fail to comply with UN standards. While most countries allow key harm reduction strategies, such as needle and syringe exchange programmes (NSPs) and opioid substitution therapy (OST), a harsh “war on drugs” method often prevails as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) struggles with the “unrealistic hope” of a drug-free region by 2015

According to Harm Reduction International, a global NGO, more than 570,000 IDUs live across Southeast Asia. More than half of them come from Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, which are listed by the UN as high priority with major HIV epidemics in IDU populations.

Southeast Asia slowly accepting harm reduction

The herbal stimulant Khat, currently legal in the UK and popular among Somali, Ethiopian, and Yemeni communities, is said to be reclassify later in the year as a class C drug. This decision has made Parliamentarians in Kenya, where a majority of Khat comes from, voice their opinion on wanting the UK to reverse this decision.

Kenyan farmers: 'Khat is no drug'

Another summer, another reminder of the consequences of our drug laws: "A man has been arrested in connection with the death of an 18-year-old who had taken fake ecstasy tablets", "The woman died in Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire, on Tuesday. She and three friends had taken green tablets with a Rolex Crown logo on them".

to purchase ecstasy and primary responsibility for these horrid deaths lies with the people who manufactured these pills.

Nevertheless, unscrupulous (and stupid) suppliers are not the only culpable actors in this sorry tragedy. Parliamentarians share some blame too. They may only be secondarily responsible but they cannot wish their responsibility away. Because these deaths, horrid as they are, must be the obvious, oft-noted, consequence of prohibition.

Once upon a time David Cameron recognised this. Before he became leader of the Conservative party he was a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee and, way back then, declared himself open to 

“alternative ways – including the possibility of legalisation and regulation – to tackle the global drugs dilemma.”

The war on drugs kills another seven Britons. How many more must die for a bankrupt idea?

The invitation to participate in the e-discussion on 'The Global Commission on HIV and the Law: Taking the Commission's Recommendations Forward' is open. The discussion, running from 27 June to 25 July, is open to the public and accessible by clicking here. We will be cross-posting content regularly from the discussion on our mailing list over the next month.

We cordially invite you to participate in an e-discussion, “The Global Commission on HIV and the Law: Taking the Commission’s Recommendations Forward", from 27 June to 25 July.

The e-discussion aims to analyze experiences in implementing the Commission’s recommendations, as well as identify challenges, opportunities, good practices and lessons learned in addressing human rights and legal frameworks in the context of HIV.

The Global Commission on HIV and the Law, convened by UNDP and chaired by 

former president of Brazil), examined the relationship between HIV, human rights and legal environments. Its final report, released in July 2012, presents a coherent and compelling evidence base that laws that protect human rights strengthen AIDS responses. The report provides important recommendations to improve public health and social justice, with a focus on addressing: discrimination; criminalization of HIV transmission; HIV among key populations, women and children; and intellectual property law. Since 2012, some 80 countries have initiated follow-up action.

To further implementation of the Commission’s recommendations, UNDP Administrator Helen Clark and UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé recently sent a joint letter to UN Resident Coordinators requesting their leadership and support to advance efforts on HIV and the law, including by:

Encouraging UN Country Teams to develop and implement strategies to support national counterparts in addressing the Commission’s findings and recommendations; and

Encouraging multi-stakeholder discussion to take forward the recommendations of the Commission, including through national dialogue, legal review and reform, sensitization of judiciary, parliamentarians and law enforcement officials, and access to justice programming.

The e-discussion will be used to inform and enhance future support to implementation of the Commission’s recommendations and will be framed around the following questions:

The Commission issued recommendations in the following areas: discrimination; criminalization of HIV transmission, exposure, or non-disclosure; key populations (people who use drugs, sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender persons, prisoners, and migrants); women; children and youth; and intellectual property law and access to treatment.

What actions have been taken in your country to follow-up on the findings and recommendations of the Commission or to promote an enabling legal environment for AIDS responses? What good practices or lessons have emerged from these activities?

Building a culture of respect for human rights and consequently strengthening legal environments can be complex and challenging, particularly in the context of issues that are perceived as controversial, such as criminalization of certain behaviours or populations at greater risk of HIV.

What have been the most difficult issues to address in supporting implementation of the Commission’s recommendations? What approaches have you used to deal with these challenges?

Phase II: Looking ahead: Strategically taking the Commission’s recommendations forward (11-25 July)

Discussions on the post 2015 development agenda have highlighted the need for countries to continue efforts to meet their MDG targets. They have also called for greater attention to advancing human rights, reaching the most excluded, and finding integrated solutions for development challenges.

In the context of an evolving development framework, what are the opportunities and challenges for maintaining attention to rights-based approaches to HIV and health? What strategies should be promoted to advance effective HIV and health responses?

The Commission’s recommendations are primarily aimed at governments, civil society actors, the private sector and the UN.

What are examples of innovative or non-traditional partnerships that can be used to strategically advance human-rights based responses to HIV? How can partnerships be effectively initiated and comparative advantages of different organizations leveraged, to support implementation of the Commission’s recommendations?

The first phase of the discussion will be moderated by Suki Beavers, Policy Advisor and Cluster Leader for Democratic Governance, Crisis Prevention and Recovery and Gender Based Violence with the UNDP Gender Team in the Bureau for Development Policy, UNDP, and by Tracy Robinson, former member of the Commission’s Technical Advisory Group and Rapporteur on the Rights of Women at the Organization of American States.

The second phase of the discussion will be moderated by Vivek Divan, Policy Specialist Key Populations and Access to Justice, HIV, Health and Development Group, UNDP, and by Michaela Clayton, Director of the AIDS & Rights Alliance for Southern Africa and Chairperson of the UNAIDS Human Rights Reference Group.

You can participate in the discussion online by clicking here.

You don’t need to log in to follow the discussion, however when you want to contribute you are requested to log-in (for people with Teamworks accounts) or to sign up for Teamworks. 

Kindly note that this is a public platform and that your contributions are visible to the public.

You may also contribute by sending your submission to hivlawdiscussion@unteamworks.org. 

Your response will be disseminated on the networks that are cross-posting the discussion.

We welcome your contributions in English, French and Spanish

. The discussion platform offers automatic (unofficial) translations of discussion contributions - please use the Google Translate button.

Click here to know more about how to participate on the e-discussión.

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Defuse the hepatitis C “time bomb”; end the war on people who use drugs.