A harm reduction approach to HIV programming |
“Harm reduction” refers to policies, programs, and practices that aim primarily to reduce |
the adverse health, social, and economic consequences associated with the use of legal |
and illegal psychoactive drugs [7]. A harm reduction approach to HIV programming |
includes a set of nine key biomedical interventions endorsed by The World Health |
Organization (WHO), the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and |
the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) [8]. These include the following |
(1) Needle and syringe programmes (NSPs). |
(2) Opioid substitution therapy (OST) and other drug dependence treatment. |
(3) HIV counselling and testing (VCT). |
(4) Antiretroviral therapy (ART). |
(5) Prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). |
(6) Condom programmes for people who inject drugs and their sexual partners. |
(7) Targeted information, education, and communication (IEC) for people who inject |
drugs and their sexual partners. |
(8) Vaccination, diagnosis, and treatment of viral hepatitis. |
(9) Prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of tuberculosis (TB). |
Some advocates have suggested that a comprehensive package representing a harm |
reduction approach reaches beyond biomedical interventions to include community- |
oriented programs such as livelihood development and access to justice/legal services, as |
well as an expanded list of clinical services including sexual and reproductive health and |
prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) services [9]. |