Menahra Newsletter

Newsletter sixth issue, November 2008

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In this Issue

- The Drug User between Marginalization and Judgment
- The rise of harm reduction in the Islamic republic of Iran
-Three million injecting drug users are HIV-positive files
- Harm Reduction proposals approved for funding by MENAHRA
- MENAHRA constitution
- KH-Arrazi launches its website
- The first regional seminar on HR in Iran
- MENAHRA announces call for proposal on harm reduction activities for the MENA region
- RANAA Announcement
- IHRA's Harm reduction 2009
- Launching the National Program against Viral Hepatitis in Lebanon

Other News

Harm Reduction Networks Make Submission to UN on Human Rights

In November 2008, IHRA’s HR2 programme authored a submission to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (www.ohchr.org). The submission – entitled ‘Harm Reduction and Human Rights: The Global Response to Injection-Driven HIV Epidemics’ – was prepared following a call by the High Commissioner’s office for input in preparing a biennial report on HIV and human rights for the UN Human Rights Committee meeting in March 2009.

The submission provides a global overview of the injecting-driven HIV epidemic worldwide, with a particular focus on several key regions. It also examines the human rights implications of the failure to scale-up harm reduction services worldwide, which includes a specific focus on the needs of women and young people. The submission concludes by making a series of recommendations to various UN human rights bodies to increase their engagement with harm reduction and drug policy issues.

The IHRA submission received formal endorsements from a number of harm reduction networks and organisations from around the world – including Actions pour la Citoyenneté et l’Education à la Santé (France), the Asian Harm Reduction Network (www.ahrn.net), Auto Support des Usagers de Drogues (France), the Canadian Harm Reduction Network, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, the Caribbean Harm Reduction Coalition, the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network, the Global Drug Policy Program (Open Society Institute), Human Rights Watch (www.hrw.org), Intercambios (www.intercambios.org.ar) (Latin America), the International Harm Reduction Development Program (Open Society Institute), the International Nursing Harm Reduction Network, the International Network of People Who Use Drugs, the Middle East and North African Harm Reduction Network (www.menahra.org), Psicotropicus (Brazil), the Sub-Saharan African Harm Reduction Network, the Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group, the Women’s International Harm Reduction Network and Youth RISE (www.youthrise.org) (the youth-led international harm reduction network).

Click here to find out more

Partners

If you have any question, or you would like to post articles on Harm Reduction, please contact us on the following email:
info@menahra.org.

WELCOME TO THE sixth MENAHRA NEWSLETTER
Dear Members, Please find below the sixth newsletter from MENAHRA – the new Middle East and North Africa harm reduction network. The network was established in June 2007 in order to strengthen harm reduction capacity, policies and interventions across all 22 countries in the region. The network consists of a central secretariat (in Lebanon) and three sub-regional harm reduction ‘Knowledge Hubs’ (in Iran, Lebanon and Morocco). This newsletter is pleased to feature a number of articles relevant to harm reduction, as well as testimony, reports and events from the MENA region and around the world: The Drug User between Marginalization and Judgment. The rise of harm reduction in the Islamic republic of Iran. Three million injecting drug users are HIV-positive files. Harm Reduction proposals approved for funding by MENAHRA. MENAHRA constitution. KH-Arrazi launches its website The first regional seminar on HR in Iran MENAHRA announces call for proposal on harm reduction activities for the MENA region RANAA Announcement IHRA's Harm reduction 2009 Launching the National Program against Viral Hepatitis in Lebanon. The MENAHRA website – www.menahra.org – is updated on a regular basis and includes the full stories featured in this newsletter. Please visit the website whenever you can, and contact info@menahra.org if you have any news or information that you would like to include in future newsletters. Please forward this newsletter to your contacts and colleagues.

The drug user is between marginalization and judgment

“The drug user is exposed to HIV/AIDS, suicide, and death most of the times ... there should be someone giving him support” - that was one of Ramy’s pleas. Ramy is an ex-drug user and peer educator who works in an outreach project for vulnerable groups implemented by SIDC and supported by Drosos foundation.

Ramy discussed several problems that face drug users, especially those of being exposed to HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Infections, depression, and marginalization by family members, society and law enforcement officers. Click here to read more.

THE RISE OF HARM REDUCTION IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
A tough anti-drugs campaign was launched in Iran following the revolution that established the Islamic Republic in 1979. Individuals caught in possession of drugs received fines, imprisonment and corporal punishment. The death penalty was prescribed for serious drug offences. Despite these measures, drug use and drug trafficking have continued to increase, and Iran has become the principal transit country for drugs from Afghanistan. In 2002, Iran accounted for a quarter of world opiate seizures. At this time, it was officially estimated that there were between 200,000 and 300,000 drug injectors in the country, and this is widely regarded as an underestimate. The costs of Iran’s drug problem include: high levels of dependency and addiction; strains on the capacity of the criminal justice system; increases in drug related deaths; and high rates of HIV/AIDS infection among injecting drug users. There is growing recognition in Iran of the limits of enforcement, and the importance of the medical and social dimensions of drug misuse. This has resulted in improvements in drug treatment and expansion of harm reduction services.Click here to find out more

Three million injecting drug users are HIV-positive
Approximately 16 million people worldwide inject drugs, with 3 million infected with HIV, according to a study published in the September 24th edition of The Lancet. High levels of HIV infection amongst injecting drug users were observed in south and south east Asia, eastern Europe and Latin America. However, the investigators’ study was limited by a lack of reliable data from many countries, most notably in sub-Saharan Africa, an indication of the neglect of the HIV prevention needs of injecting drug users. Injecting drug use has caused health problems around the world, not least the transmission of bloodborne infections, most notably HIV. Accurate and reliable estimates of the number of injecting drug users and HIV prevalence amongst them is needed so that appropriate and targeted health promotion interventions can be designed. Click here to find out more

Harm Reduction proposals approved for funding

A meeting in September for the MENAHRA Project Management Group in Cairo during which proposals for harm reduction projects were reviewed. Proposals were evaluated according to criteria that addressed the relevance, affordability and feasibility of the projects, in addition to whether they contribute to the MENAHRA objectives.

MENAHRA is pleased to announce the approval for funding of harm reduction projects for the following organizations:

Roshan Rasta in Pakistan
Mashad Positive Club in Iran
Association Tunisienne de Lutte contre Les MST et le Sida (ATL MST/SIDA) in Tunisia

The Network is currently accepting new proposals for review. Click here to find out more

MENAHRA constitution
Dear Member MENAHRA developed a constitution for the mission, membership and other important issues that are related to the network. The constitution is composed of 12 articles, we need your feedback on it before end of December, and you may visit the website where it features in Arabic and English versions (www.menahra.org) or follow the URL below and give your feedback thankfully. Click here to read more.

KH-Arrazi launches its website

The KH-Arrazi, one of the MENAHRA sub-regional knowledge hubs located in Rabat – Morroco - recently launched its website: www.kh-arrazi.ma.
The website aims at informing stakeholders from North Africa about the concept of harm reduction and the latest developments in this field. The website provides a forum for discussion and exchange of experiences on topics of harm reduction for all visitors. The website also serves as a tool for advocacy and assistance.

The regional seminar on Harm Reduction in Iran
The first regional seminar on “Reducing Harm of Drug Use in Central & West Asia & the Middle East” took place in Tehran, Iran from 27 to 29 October 2008. The seminar was hosted by Iranian Drug Control Headquarters and UNODC-Iran to advance and establish regional cooperation in Harm Reduction matters. There were participants from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Lebanon, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikstan, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, and Syria. Also, there were panelists from Australia, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, and France. During the days of the seminar, there were many lectures about Harm Reduction in prison setting, abstinence-based treatment programs, opioid substitution treatment, and needle & syringe programs. Some of the lectures were about country reports of different countries in above topics. After each session, there was a working group about the topic (participants were divided into four groups), and the groups presented the results. Click here to find out more

Menahra announces call for proposal on harm reduction activities for the MENA region

The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) has issued its Round 9 call for proposal for grant funding. Menahra, being a civil society organization (CSO) intended for strengthening the role of civil society organizations in harm reduction in the Middle East and North Africa, will submit a multi-country HIV proposal addressing HIV prevention, treatment and care among drug users , including injecting drug users (DU/IDU) through a harm reduction approach.

Menahra is hereby calling upon all interested stakeholders, particularly civil society organizations intending to implement harm reduction activities to submit their own organizational proposals which fit the above objectives for review and integration to the Menahra Multi-country proposal for the GF Round 9 application. For more information on the Menahra R9 proposal, and more detail about expected areas of work please see the Attached Menahra Concept Note.

Menahra is also seeking a Principal Recipient (PR) for the proposal grant in the case of its approval. According to the GF, the PR is the principal implementer or manager of program interventions. The principal implementer is responsible to the Global Fund for reporting on programmatic and financial performance during the program term. The PR role is summarized in the attached document Call EOI.

Read more at www.Menahra.org

RANAA Announcement

The Regional and Arab Network against AIDS (RANAA) is pleased to announce the featuring of a Discussion Board on its website. The Discussion Board serves to provide a space where visitors can express themselves and discuss HIV/AIDS related issues.

The board is open to everyone who is Infected or Affected by HIV, or working with People Living with HIV/AIDS with an experience worth sharing. Click here to read more.

Harm Reduction 2009: An Open Letter from the Conference Director

Over the past few months, there has been a lot of hard work behind the scenes in planning for Harm Reduction 2009 – www.ihraconferences.net – and the Conference Director, Professor Gerry Stimson, has written an open letter to everyone interested in the event in order to update our colleagues on some of the significant developments.

In particular, the conference will now be held at the Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel (which was already the official conference accommodation) over four full days - Monday 20th April –Thursday 23rd April.

The open letter also includes information about the conference programme (for which we have received around 900 abstracts from around the world), translation services, scholarships, the conference price, the on-going advocacy work that is taking place around the event, and the medical and harm reduction services that we hope to provide for all of our delegates – especially those that are actively using drugs.

Overall, Harm Reduction 2009 is shaping up to be an excellent, landmark conference for harm reduction in Thailand, across South-East Asia and internationally. IHRA, the Conference Consortium and our Conference Partners look forward to welcoming you next April in Bangkok.

Please visit www.ihra.net/Thailand/News to view the open letter from Professor Gerry Stimson.

البرنامج الوطني لمكافحة أمراض الكبد الفيروسي

أطلقت وزارة الصحة العامة في لبنان ومنظمة الصحة العالمية في أوائل شهر تشرين الثاني / نوفمبر، البرنامج الوطني لمكافحة أمراض الكبد الفيروسي، في بيت مقر نقابة الأطباء في بيروت ــــ بيت الطبيب ــــ التحويطة. وتحدث في اللقاء نقيب أطباء لبنان البروفسور جورج أفتيموس فقال: «إن أمراض الكبد الفيروسي هي من الأمراض الشائعة، وهي قد تكون بسيطة وتشفى دون مضاعفات كالتهاب الكبد العائد للفيروس A الذي ينتقل بواسطة الجهاز الهضمي، وقد تكون خطرة كالالتهاب العائد للفيروس B وC ، هذه الفيروسات تنتقل بالدم والاتصال الجنسي». وأضاف: «تتمثل المشكلة الرئيسية في لبنان في نقص المعلومات عن مدى انتشاره، وفي غياب الفحوصات المجانية لاكتشافه، وقلة الإرشاد الصحي الذي يمثّل العمود الفقري لمكافحة تفشّي هذا المرض».تتمة