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HIV treatment targets for PWID will be missed without focus on rights, privacy and prisons

Posted on May 31, 2017

Source: aidsmap

HIV treatment targets for PWID will be missed without focus on rights, privacy and prisons

"Reaching ambitious HIV treatment targets for people who use drugs requires efforts to protect privacy, to promote access to opioid substitution treatment and to keep people out of prison, the 25th International Harm Reduction Conference (HR17) in Montréal, Canada, heard earlier this month.

Attention to HIV and related issues at the conference was overtaken by more high profile topics such as spiraling overdose rates in North America, human rights crises for people who use drugs in countries such as the Philippines and Russia, and the growth of amphetamine-type substances and their use in different contexts and by different populations.   

A single session on HIV treatment for people who use drugs, sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO), focused on the UNAIDS 90-90-90 HIV treatment targets, the barriers getting in the way of progress on these targets for people who inject drugs, and examples of promising practice from Ukraine and Pakistan describing community-based programmes that are successful in improving access to HIV testing and antiretroviral therapy (ART) services for people who use drugs."

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