CORE Knowledge Hub Webinar # 4 | How to use digital tools to support people who use drugs: Best Practices for Digital Harm Reduction

CORE in collaboration with BOOST are pleased to invite you to the webinar “How to use digital tools to support people who use drugs: Best Practices for Digital Harm Reduction”, on 24 June 2025 at 14:00 – 15:00 CEST (15:00 – 16:00 EET).

As more harm reduction work takes place online, there’s a growing need for clear and practical guidance. Digital harm reduction services* are becoming increasingly important. However, without shared standards, it can be difficult to ensure these services are effective, safe, and accessible.

To help fill this gap, a set of Best Practices for Digital Harm Reduction have been developed as part of WP3 of BOOST – a project that supports community-based and community-led organisations in delivering services for communicable diseases. The Best Practices will be presented in a webinar as part of the Knowledge Hub of the project CORE, a mutual learning and stakeholder engagement platform.

This Best Practices Collection was developed through a collaborative process with experts from harm reduction, digital services, and community-based organisations. Over several rounds of input, they shared their knowledge, experience, and feedback to help define what high-quality digital harm reduction services should look like. In February 2025, a final expert meeting took place in Barcelona to consolidate this input.

The Best Practices Collection will be officially published in June 2025. This webinar will introduce the main findings, explore how these practices can be used in real-world settings, and highlight connections between the BOOST and CORE projects.

Speaker: Jemma Oldfield

*Digital harm reduction services use digital tools and online platforms to deliver support, resources, and interventions related to drug use. These services utilise tools like messaging apps, chatbots, video calls and websites to offer accessible, flexible and often anonymous support to people who use drugs. Being online allows these services to try new and creative ways in providing harm reduction, from interactive tools to reaching communities traditional services often miss. Some examples of digital harm reduction services include:

• Telegram bots that provide step-by-step guidance on overdose prevention and first-aid measures.
• Online forums where people can ask questions and share lived experiences of drug use.
• Peer-to-peer online counselling that can offer support in harm reduction, risky behaviour and offline service referrals.
• Social media pages that provide information on drug checking, pill warnings and safe dosages.

To attend the webinar, please register here.  

Webinar at C-EHRN website: https://correlation-net.org/2025/05/26/webinar-how-to-use-digital-tools-to-support-people-who-use-drugs-best-practices-for-digital-harm-reduction/ 

About the CORE project

The CORE Project (“Community Response to End Inequalities”) aims to reduce inequalities by promoting, strengthening and integrating the community responses that have proven key in bringing services closer to persons who would benefit most but face inadequate access, in particular countries where these responses are still lacking. This will happen through capacity building, networking, and the exchange of good practice and innovative approaches, as well as through a proactive outreach and engagement of relevant stakeholders, while addressing legal, policy, and structural issues to promote integration of these approaches into disease prevention and health promotion strategies and systems.

The CORE project will build on and intensify collaboration of regional networks and national and local organisations of people living with HIV, key populations, and service provider organisations. It will use, adapt, and disseminate existing national, regional, and global good practice approaches and tools from across key populations and disease areas, and provide platforms for exchange.

CORE Knowledge Hub – Community Skill Boosting Sessions

The Knowledge Hub is introducing a series of meetings aimed at sharing best practices in community health services for communities most affected by HIV, TB, viral hepatitis and STIs. The Hub will also be a place where community organisations and partners can share experience and discuss solutions to issues encountered. The meetings will be recorded for post-event sharing on the CORE website.

The Knowledge Hub consists of Webinars organised by the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG), Correlation European Harm Reduction Network (C-EHRN), European Sex Workers Alliance (ESWA) and Africa Advocacy Foundation (Work Package 6) and Workshops co-organised Deutsche Aidshilfe (DAH), C-EHRN, ESWA, and Africa Advocacy Foundation (Work Package 4).

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Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

The CORE project has received funding from the Health Programme of the European Union under grant agreement No 101080079.