International Harm Reduction Conference, Liverpool April 25-26

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe to deliver opening address at Harm Reduction 2010 conference on Sunday April 25. 3 Cents a day is not enough: Conference to launch ground breaking report on global lack of funding for HIV-related harm reduction on Monday April 26. Host venue Liverpool introduced groundbreaking needle exchange services in 1985 that have since become a model for programmes worldwide.

London, UK, Wednesday, April 7, 2010-- Liverpool, long considered to be one of the original birthplaces of needle exchange programmes in the fight against HIV, will later this month play host to the world´s largest harm reduction event, the International Harm Reduction Association’s 21st International Conference: Harm Reduction 2010 – The Next Generation. The conference will draw around 1400 participants from some 90 countries.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé will deliver the keynote opening address at the conference opening ceremony on the evening of Sunday April 25.

Harm Reduction programs such as clean needle exchange programmes and opioid substitution therapy (eg methadone) were introduced some 25 years ago in European cities like Rotterdam and Liverpool and in countries Australia. It was one of the first successful measures to prevent HIV infection through injecting drug use. The practice was widely adopted as public health policy in many countries and along with safe sex campaigns is considered a major factor in the relatively low HIV infection rates in those countries.

Nearly three decades later, injecting drug use is now driving the globe´s fast growing HIV/AIDS epidemic in Eastern Europe. Some 65 per cent of HIV infections in Russia for instance, are through injecting drug use. The number of HIV infected people in Russia has increased tenfold in the past decade from an estimated 100, 000 to one million. Eighty per cent of HIV positive people are under 30 years of age. Methadone is illegal.

2010 is the year that Universal Access to HIV prevention, treatment and care was meant to have been achieved and yet the global average is fewer than two clean needles a month per injector, and only four per cent of injecting drug users living with HIV are on HIV treatment.

Against this background, the conference´s opening Plenary Session on Monday April 26 will focus on the financing and coverage of harm reduction programmes across the globe. Speakers will include Prof Gerry Stimson, Executive Director of the International Harm Reduction Association, Bradley Mathers from the Reference Group to the UN on HIV and Injecting Drug Use, Urban Weber of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and Alvaro Bermejo, Executive Director of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance.

An opening press conference featuring the plenary speakers will take place at 10.45 am immediately following the plenary. 3 Cents a day is not enough, a ground breaking report on the financing of HIV Harm Reduction will be launched at the press conference.

The theme of the Plenary Session on Tuesday April 27 is Decriminalisation and Beyond and will feature presentations by Martin Acuña, Trial Judge on Criminal Matters in Argentina (on drug policies in Latin America), Ann Fordham, Coordinator of the International Drug Policy Consortium (on decriminalisation), Fatima Trigueiros (on national drug strategies in Portugal) and Steve Rolles, Head of Research for Transform Drug Policy Foundation (on options for control after the war on drugs).

The closing day of the conference on Thursday April 29 will feature a special session titled Harm Reduction for Producer Nations? Farmers' Perspectives on the War on Drugs with speakers from Colombia, Burma, Afghanisatan and Bolivia.

The closing Plenary Session will focus on law enforcement, scientific evidence and drug policy, hepatitis and mainstreaming evidence based harm reduction policies. Presenters include: Philippe Bourgois, Richard Perry University, Professor of Anthropology & Family and Community Medicine; Evan Wood, Director of the Urban Health Research Initiative at the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS; Margaret Hellard, Director of the Centre for Population Health at the Burnet Institute and Teguest Guerma, Director ad interim of the WHO HIV/AIDS Department.

What:“The Next Generation” - Harm Reduction 2010: International Harm Reduction Association’s 21st International Conference

Where:BT Convention Centre, Monarchs Quay, Liverpool, UK

When: Sunday April 25 - Thursday April 29, 2010

About Harm Reduction 2010

The event, now in its 21st year, has become the focal point for knowledge sharing, networking and promoting evidence-based best practice in the field of reducing harms from drugs and alocohol. The delegates include front line workers, researchers, policy makers, politicians, people from international organisations, people who use drugs and people working in criminal justice. The conferences have helped to put harm reduction on the map and to coordinate advances, innovations, evidence and advocacy in this field for the last two decades.

The significance of Liverpool as host city

The conference returns to Liverpool which hosted the first event back in April 1990. Liverpool has a proud history of both public health and harm reduction. It was the first city in the world to appoint a Medical Officer of Health back in 1847 and, in the 1980s, developed the ‘Mersey Harm Reduction Model’ for reducing drug related harms. The city opened the ‘Mersey Drug Training and Information Centre’ (MDTIC) in 1985 – a drop-in centre which provided honest information about safer drug use and, in 1986, opened one of the world’s first formal needle and syringe exchange programmes (in a converted toilet!). As such, Liverpool contributed significantly to the adoption of harm reduction across the UK and Europe, which then helped to establish harm reduction around the world.

About the Organisers

IHRA. The International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA) is the leading organisation promoting a harm reduction approach to all psychoactive substances on a global basis. IHRA exists to prevent the negative social, health, economic and criminal impacts of illicit drugs, alcohol and tobacco for individuals, communities and society. IHRA combines a public health and human rights based approach to reduce drug-related harms. It builds strategic alliances and partnerships with national and international organisations, supports the engagement of people affected by drugs and alcohol, promotes the human rights of affected populations and counters their marginalisation and stigmatisation.

Conference Consortium. Consortium is a unique independent company formed by a group of drug, alcohol and criminal justice service providers, and trade unions, professional and national organisations in the UK. The aims of the Consortium are to provide a forum to encourage discussion and debate on policy and practice in the fields of alcohol, drugs and criminal justice, disseminate information on research and good practice, foster thinking and new ideas, promote honest dialogue with respect for differing views, and encourage transparency in pursuit of its aims.

Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). Liverpool John Moores University is a major academic institution in England. It was originally founded as a small mechanics institution (the Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts) in 1823 and was later called Liverpool Polytechnic before gaining university status in 1992. It serves over 24,000 students – making it the largest institution in Liverpool – and has played a vital role in the regeneration of Liverpool. LJMU has also remained at the forefront of exciting developments in areas such as multimedia, sports science and public health – and was awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize in 2005.

For the latest information about the conference programme and session abstracts as well as information on media accreditation and online registration, visit http://www.ihra.net/Liverpool/MediaCentre