Some 1300 people from over 60 countries are attending the 18th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm which is taking place in Warsaw, Poland from 13-17 May. The conference, organised annually, is bringing together frontline workers, researchers, policy makers, members of governments, officials from law enforcement, the judiciary, criminal justice workers, UN officials, members of national and international NGO’s, together with members of drug user organisations to present, discuss and debate the often difficult issues surrounding drug related harm.

Keynote speech

On the opening day, UNAIDS’ Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific gave one of the keynote speeches and highlighted the inextricable links between injecting drug use and HIV and the achievements and challenges in addressing these complex issues.

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View Powerpoint presentation (ppt, 2,96 MB)

Urgent action needed to improve access to HIV prevention and treatment services for people who inject drugs

Despite increased political will and a scale up of funds available for the AIDS response, most people who inject drugs are still being denied access to basic HIV prevention and treatment services.

Read Press Release ( en | fr | ru | es )

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

 Injecting drug abuse is among the major forces driving the AIDS epidemic. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), a Cosponsor of UNAIDS since 1999, has been mainstreaming HIV prevention into its demand reduction activities globally, with an emphasis on promoting skills development and helping young people live a healthy, drug-free life. UNODC also supports prevention activities to limit the spread of HIV among people who inject drugs, and through them, to their spouses, children and the general population.

Visit UNODC Website

HIV/AIDS and injecting drug use - Christian Kroll, UNODC Global Coordinator for HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS and injecting drug use - Christian Kroll, UNODC Global Coordinator for HIV/AIDSAround ten percent of all new HIV infections worldwide are due to injecting drug use. But in some regions it's now the main route of HIV transmission - accounting for over 80 per cent of all HIV cases. When did injecting drug use first emerge as a significant factor in the HIV/AIDS pandemic?

Listen to audio interview (mp3, 2.2 Mb)