At a panel discussion held during the fifty-ninth session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, being held from 14 to 22 March in Vienna, Austria, representatives of the European Union, the African Union, UNAIDS and civil society have stressed the importance of adopting a harm reduction approach to ensure better health and social results for people who inject drugs.

The event, "Promoting health, human rights and development through a harm reduction approach", took place a month ahead of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on the World Drug Problem, to be held in New York, United States of America, which will adopt a new outcome document to help set the future direction of global drugs policy. Participants at the event in Vienna, who included UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Luiz Loures, agreed that the UNGASS outcome document must include strong commitments to harm reduction strategies at the global, regional and national levels.

Panellists also underlined that the human rights of drug users must be at the centre of prevention and treatment efforts and that drug users must have a central role in developing harm reduction policies. Globally, the estimated number of people who inject drugs is 12.7 million, of whom 13% are living with HIV.

Joining Mr Loures on the panel were Martin van Rijn, Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport of the Netherlands, Hendrietta Ipeleng Bogopane-Zulu, Deputy Minister of Social Development of South Africa, and Oanh Thi Hai Khuat, Executive Director of the Center for Supporting Community Development Initiatives, Viet Nam. The discussion was moderated by Louise Van Deth of Stop AIDS Now!     

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