EHRN publications

Report by Eurasian Harm Reduction Network (EHRN) developed in the lead-up to the 26th Global Fund Board meeting, which is taking place in Geneva on May 10-11, 2012. The report assesses the consequences of the sharp reduction in donor support that forced the Global Fund to halt new funding and to impose cost-cutting measures.

Over the last decade, the Global Fund has played a unique and indispensable role in responding to the HIV epidemic among people who use drugs in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA). From 2002 to 2009, it approved $263 million for harm reduction in EECA alone—more than all other international sources combined.

The Global Fund made important investments in capacity building and advocacy efforts by civil society, but this work is far from complete; more, not fewer, funds are needed to build harm reduction capacity and political support, critical components in establishing sustainability. EECA, which is home to a fast-growing HIV epidemic concentrated among people who inject drugs (PWID), has already been affected and will be hit particularly hard by the recent Global Fund changes in the near future – please see Quitting While Not Ahead for details.  The Global Fund’s decisions to reduce funding availability based on country income level ignores the fact that income is not the determining factor for the availability of HIV services for PWID; rather, the decisive factor is political will.  This is the wrong time for the Global Fund to reduce support for the HIV response in EECA, stepping away from sustainability and advocacy efforts on behalf of harm reduction. The need to protect harm reduction services from ideologically driven attacks and laws that directly or indirectly criminalise people who inject drugs makes it imperative to do more and better on critical enablers of harm reduction in the region.

[in English]

April 23, 2012

The Eurasian Harm Reduction Network in partnership with International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine and Canadian HIV/AIDS  Legal Network submitted a shadow report on Ukraine to the Human Rights Council as part of Universal Periodic Review process.

The submission focuses on the country’s progress in implementation of recommendations given to the Government of Ukraine by other UN bodies that review the progress made by country in the framework of international human rights commitments and tackles two issues – the rights of people who use drugs to harm reduction services and removing barriers in access to health for children and young people who use drugs.

Back in 2008 The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) expressed concern regarding the HIV epidemic in the country and recommended expansion of demand reduction services for people who use drugs. The submission highlights the legal constrains in implementation of the recommendations specifically the amendments made to the drug tables, which led to significant criminalization of extremely low amounts of narcotic drugs.

In 2011 the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) recommended removing barriers in access to health services, including harm reduction to children and young people who use drugs. The submission tackles the progress made by country (or lack thereof) in implementation of the recommendations.

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all 192 UN Member States once every four years. The UPR is a State-driven process, under the auspices of the Human Rights Council, which provides the opportunity for each State to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfill their human rights obligations. As one of the main features of the Council, the UPR is designed to ensure equal treatment for every country when their human rights situations are assessed. For more: http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/upr/pages/uprmain.aspx. The Council will review Ukraine during the 14th session (22 October-5 November 2012).

[in English]

In times of economic crisis, governments face choices on how best to balance spending and where best to direct limited resources and generate prosperity. Managing the costs of interventions to ensure the highest quality and best outcomes for the lowest possible costs becomes a priority.
The report shows that the dominant law enforcement approach results in misbalanced government spending. Countries of the region spend more than double amount of money on enforcement of laws on drug use and possession rather than harm reduction, while either drug use nor HIV epidemic are being contained pointing towards inadequate political priorities and inefficient spending of tax money.

The report aims to assess whether national funding allocated for drug-related measures achieves the goals of slowing down or reversing drug epidemics and protecting society from drug-related harms. It is based on comparing costs associated law enforcement activities around drug use and possession with no intent to supply versus the effects on drug use and health. The report draws on country costs assessments done in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Romania and Russia as well as analysis of data from other countries of the region, including Ukraine and Tajikistan.

It is a result of last couple of years work of international NGOs  with the goal to draw the attention to the different costs at the expense of which the prohibitionist drug policies are implemented in order to activate the dialogue between the civil society groups and governments on more efficient and cost effective drug policy and budget implementation.

[in English]

In October 2011, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria approached the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network concerning different types of needle-syringes and their possible influence on HIV transmission among people who inject drugs. While emerging evidence suggests that a switch to low dead-space (LDS) syringes could have a major impact on HIV, both the Global Fund and EHRN recognized that such an intervention can only succeed if it is fully informed by — and with the full backing of — local drug users, taking into account their needs, preferences and the local drug markets, and where reliable supplies of new products can be ensured at similar costs to existing syringes.
The Secretariats of the Global Fund and EHRN agreed to conduct a rapid situation assessment on the types of needles and syringes that are procured and supplied through needle and syringe programmes and pharmacies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The overall objective was to examine opportunities for introducing LDS syringes, and informing future policy and advocacy efforts.  The rapid situation assessment was conducted by EHRN in November and December 2011, and the results of this study are summarized in this report.

[in English] [in Russian]