LAUNCHED TODAY! Harm Reduction Key Principles in Homeless Services

 

We are delightfully exhilarated to present you with this exciting must-read publication, Harm Reduction Key Principles in Homeless Services. Special thanks to all our partners, FEANTSA, De Regenboog Groep, Simon Community, Rights Reporter Foundation, Sundheds Team and Norte Vida.

The Key Principles
The Key Principles of Harm Reduction are an innovative set of tools developed through the HR4Homelessness Project. The innovation lies in their capacity to translate existing experiences and knowledge on Harm Reduction into actionable guidance through an open, iterative and evolving framework. 

The Key Principles aim to contribute to improving and transforming the services that shape access to and the quality of care that people experiencing homelessness who use drugs or alcohol receive. Further, they aim to support these services to respond to conditions that negatively influence marginalised and underserved communities’ social and health outcomes.

 

Why Harm Reduction? Why now?
Currently, a substantial number of programmes that support people experiencing homelessness in Europe require ongoing abstinence in order to receive or to access support services, including permanent housing. At the same time, a significant number of services currently articulate other conditions that, in combination with an abstinence requirement, result in high-threshold access to care and support and difficulties in generating engagement with people who use drugs or alcohol. 

High-threshold models come with the risk of implementing a “one size fits all” model that does not respond to the complex realities and diverse experiences of people experiencing homelessness who use drugs or alcohol. Instead, high-threshold services articulate structures wherein those most in need of help are least able to access it and where services end up supporting individuals who can demonstrate the capacity for change prior to the conditions and support required to achieve such change. Such an approach is often experienced as shaming or stigmatising and acts as a barrier to building trust between individuals and services. 

While evidence for the effectiveness of Harm Reduction exists, and a growing number of services in Europe, including homeless services, have started implementing Harm Reduction approaches as a guiding model in recent years, a substantial number of homeless services in Europe still lack the capacity to implement such strategies effectively. Next to this, mainstream Harm Reduction services that can implement Harm Reduction strategies and approaches generally focus too narrowly on technological or behavioural interventions centring upon personal change and not on systemic change. 

In response, the Key Principles of Harm Reduction in Homeless Services aims to support service providers to implement activities that respect the rights of people experiencing homelessness who use drugs or alcohol, which are informed by evidence. It also intends to advance social justice transformations, respect service user decisions and priorities, and contribute to eliminating stigma and discrimination of the communities they work for and with.

For more information about this resource or the HR4Homeless Project, please contact rpgayo@correlation-net.org

 

Key Principles of Harm Reduction in Homeless Settings

Check out the HR Key Principles, our key innovative output which translates the learnings of the HR4homelessness project into guidance for homeless and other services who support people in homelessness

The HR Key Principles translate the learnings from the ‘HR4homelessness’ Project, which brought together homeless and bustance use services, into guidance for homeless services to improve support provision for people who use drugs and/or alcohol.

For each of the seven principles, strategies for improving support provision are described as well as existing good practices. We provide suggestions for tools that can be helpful for staff and service users, suggestions for further reading and link you up to the respective training video(s). The seven principles are:

  1. Human Rights based service provision: HR aims at establishing quality of individual and community life and well-being – not necessarily abstinence of all drug use – as the criteria for successful actions and policies. HR calls for a non-judgmental, non-coercive access to support and care.
  2. Meaningful engagement of service users: HR engages and involves people with lived experience of homelessness and substance use in the development and evaluation of policies, services and programs that affect them. This is essential for achieving  good social and health outcomes and addressing unmet needs.
  3. Reduce risks and harm: HR focuses on reducing the harms related to substance use for the individual and the broader community. It takes into account factors that may exacerbate vulnerability such as trauma, incarceration history, racism, social disadvantage, housing status, age, sexual orientation and gender.
  4. Take on a pragmatic attitude: HR accepts that licit and illicit substance use is part of our world. HR reflects the idea that none of us will ever achieve perfect health behaviors and that ‘perfect’ health behaviors are impossible to define as they are shaped by social determinants and norms.
  5. Person Centered Services: HR services focus on responding to the needs, preferences and values of the individuals and communities they work with. This includes the recognition of the social conditioning of health outcomes, addressing power relationships between care providers and service users, and the promotion of communication and shared decision-making.
  6. Evidence-based services, strategies and policies which are relevant and effective to the communities they serve and which are regularly evaluated and, if necessary, adapted.
  7. Accountability: HR aims to minimize not only the negative health and social impacts associated with drug and alcohol use, but also the harms caused by respective policies, laws, services, and institutional practices. HR promotes processes and systems designed to hold individuals and groups in check for their decisions and actions.

Developing a new Strategy for 2021-2025

Correlation – European Harm Reduction Network is excited to invite you to join us in our upcoming Harm Reduction Labs. Currently, the Network is developing a new Strategy for 2021-2025 through a process that includes all stakeholders in the Harm Reduction movement.

Running alongside the preparations for the upcoming European Harm Reduction Conference 2021, the Harm Reduction Labs will offer the possibility of exploring collective solutions and imagining what harm reduction can be. In addition to analysing current themes and approaches within the harm reduction movement, each Lab will offer space to come together and identify common and urgent future questions that address broader topics of social justice, bodily autonomy, and care, among others.

Programme:
HR Lab #1 | Sex Work, Migration and Homelessness [30 September, 15h – 16:30h]
HR Lab #2 | Gender Identities, Gender Expressions and Sex Characteristics [7 October, 15h – 16:30h]
HR Lab #3 | Funding & Sustainability [14 October, 15h – 16:30h]
HR Lab #4 | Digital Transformation & Online Spaces [21 October, 15h – 16:30h]
HR Lab #5 | Youth & Recreational Settings [28 October, 15h – 16:30h]
HR Lab #6 | Stimulants [4 November, 15h – 16:30h]
HR Lab #7 | Community-Led Research [2 December, 15h – 16:30h]
HR Lab #8 | Care & Pleasure [9 December, 15h – 16:30h]

From your point of view, what is urgent for the harm reduction movement to consider in the coming period?

Please, register now to any of the Labs to share your thoughts with us.
If you have any questions, you may also contact Roberto Perez Gayo at rpgayo@correlation-net.org

International Overdose Awareness Day 2021

Today, 31 August, is the annual International Overdose Awareness Day, which aims to raise awareness of one of the world’s worst public health crises and commemorate those lost to a drug overdose. The key message – that the tragedy of overdose death is preventable and more must be done to save lives – is at the very heart of C-EHRN’s aims.

What we know
In May 2021, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) published an update to its technical report ‘Drug-related deaths and mortality in Europe‘.

According to the report, in 2018, over 8,300 deaths involving one or more illicit drugs were reported in the European Union, rising to over 9,200 when Turkey and Norway were included. Multiple drug toxicity is implicated in most cases, with opioids being the most common cause of fatal overdoses; cocaine has been involved in an increasing number of overdoses, frequently combined with heroin or other opioids.

C-EHRN publishes an annual monitoring report on civil society-led harm reduction activities across Europe, produced with the support and input from its vast network of focal points. The 2020 report compiles responses from focal points around the conditions and characteristics of drug overdoses. Some of the most frequent characteristics were:

● Experiencing homelessness
● Using drugs alone
● Engaging in polydrug-use
● Not calling for emergency help for fear of the police
● Not having access to naloxone

Addressing the issues
The findings in the monitoring report help to shape the activities and priorities of C-EHRN and its members. The following examples demonstrate some of the overdose prevention work currently in place:

Amplifying the voices of people who use drugs
“Nothing about us without us”.  EuroNPUD – the European Network of People who Use Drugs – supports the growth and development of drug user networking and advocacy across the European Union and represents the interests of people who use drugs to European institutions.

In 2020 EuroNPUD worked with their UK partners to undertake a peer designed and delivered naloxone access and advocacy project to coincide with International Overdose Awareness Day. The project’s focus was to highlight the role of naloxone in responding to opioid overdose, describe the existing response and barriers to accessing naloxone in the UK, and advocate for expanded peer-to-peer access. 

It included peer-led focus groups, mystery shopping exercises around naloxone accessibility, advocacy briefings on the findings, next steps, and the benefits of peer2peer naloxone distribution, all held with local service delivery partners and peers. 

Naloxone Click and Deliver Service
Scotland currently has the highest drug-induced mortality rate in Europe. Provided by Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs, with the support of the Scottish Drugs Forum, this Service supplies a take-home naloxone service to anyone over 16.
Naloxone can reverse the effects of opioid overdoses almost immediately and lasts long enough for the person to receive medical treatment.

Drug Consumption Rooms (DCRs)
A mobile DCR was launched in Lisbon in 2019, co-managed by Grupo de Ativistas em Tratamentos and Médicos do Mundo. The facility aims to contribute to the health, safety and quality of life of people who inject drugs by providing access to safer injecting consumption conditions and preventing the risks and harm associated with injecting.

May 2021 saw the opening of Lisbon’s first fixed DCR, located in a part of the city with intense drug trafficking and high drug use in public spaces. While Ares Do Pinhal manages the DCR, the people who use the service are also involved in its daily operation.

Alongside providing a safer space, both facilities also offer education for safer consumption; distribution of consumables such as syringes; provision of primary health care; peer and psychosocial support; and rapid testing for HIV, Hepatitis B and C, as well as syphilis.

 

Further information
● Go to the official International Overdose Awareness Day website
● Read C-EHRN briefing papers on overdose prevention:
       o  Part 1: Status Quo and Challenges
       o  Part 2: New Technology-Based Solutions
● Read C-EHRN Chapter on Overdose Prevention in the Monitoring Report 2020 
● View other publications on overdose prevention in the C-EHRN Resource centre
● Interested in becoming a part of our monitoring activity? Contact us or the focal point in your country
● Become a C-EHRN member

The Dutch Multiplier Event on HR4Homelessness

On the 29th of July, De Regenboog Groep / C-EHRN hosted the webinar “Improving Harm Reduction Services for People Who use Substances in the situation of Homelessness”. This webinar is part of the Eramus+ project “HR4Homelessness”.

With 40 registered participants, the event brought together professionals working in homelessness and drug use to exchange experiences about their harm reduction programmes, the challenges they face, the successes, and to get acknowledged with the outcomes of the HR4Homeless project.

Roberto Perez Gayo, policy officer at C-EHRN, presented the overall aim and specific objectives of the project and the contribution of the activities and outputs. Specifically, the event offered the participants the possibility of getting acquittanced with two critical project outcomes. On the one hand, attention was given to the Harm Reduction Key Principles and how they can help homeless services improving harm reduction provision for people who use drugs. On the other, to the outcomes of the EU-wide survey on harm reduction service provision that project developed. Ruth Kasper, HR4Homelessness project coordinator, presented data regarding current HR provision for people experiencing homelessness and the synthesis of drug/alcohol use among people in situations of homelessness and their access to support services in the partner countries.

The project and outcomes presentation was followed by three projects that put forward the diversity of approaches to harm reduction and recent development they work to respond to. First, Vivienne Blommendaal and Frank van Milt, caseworkers at the Centre of Expertise Housing First HVO Querido, shared with participants the relationship between Housing First and Harm Reduction models. Both Vivienne and Frank provided insights into how HR works within their project and some of the practical implications for adequate support of people who use drugs in Housing First programmes. Next, Ingrid Bakker – projects officer at MAINline – presented ‘Omgaan met Verward Gedrag”, a recent project that seeks to increase the capacity of low-threshold facilities & their staff to respond to neural diversity. In recent years the Netherlands has experienced a rise in homelessness, while at the same time problems in capacity on shelters and mental health facilities. Already for a while, MAINline was receiving signals from shelters themselves that they were working with people with more complex needs of support – substance dependence, mental health, homelessness, among others -, and that their capacity to respond adequately to it was limited. In response to this situation, “Omgaan met Verward Gedrag” has developed a manual and a training programme to build the capacity of service providers in the field of homelessness. After this, Sonja Groot – De Regenboog / Amsterdam Undeground – presented the community-led projects she works on: a tour guiding company that operates as a community-led cooperative. Amsterdam Undeground functions not only as a labour integration and community building project for and by people who use(d) drugs but also as a platform for advocacy and fighting stigma. Through their own experiences, the guides can give insight into the lives of people who use drugs, people experiencing homelessness or sex workers, among others.

For any further information, please contact Roberto Perez Gayo rpgayo@correlation-net.org

 

A Feasibility Study to Increase Chronic Hepatitis C Virus RNA Testing and Linkage to Care among Clients Attending Homeless Services in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

People who inject drugs (PWID) are disproportionately affected by hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections and are frequently homeless. To improve HCV case finding in these individuals, the authors examined the feasibility of rapid HCV RNA testing in homeless services in Amsterdam. In 2020, they provided a comprehensive service to homeless facilities, including workshops on HCV for personnel, a “hepatitis ambassador” at each facility, a rapid, onsite HCV RNA fingerstick test service, and assistance with linkage to care.

One of the authors’ points is that screening in homeless services with rapid testing is feasible and could improve HCV case finding for PWID who do not regularly attend primary care or other harm reduction services for people who use drugs.

The study was published at Diagnostics, an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal on medical diagnosis published monthly online by MDPI.

Read the study here

COVID-19 – Addressing the impact on workers in the informal economy

In this NLO podcast episode, we discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on workers in the informal economy, including sex workers and undocumented migrants. Our guests explain the gaps and unintended consequences of government responses and how to increase equitable and inclusive access to care and social services for all.

Join us for an exciting and insightful discussion with:

Maria-Anna Paraskeva, Senior Policy Officer, DG EMPL, F1- EFS (European Social Fund) and FEAD (Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived) (European Commission)

Michele LeVoy, Director Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM)

Luca Stevenson, Coordinator, International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe (ICRSE)

Moderated by Paul Adamson from Encompass.

COVID-19 in Marginalised Groups – Challenges, actions and voices

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented crisis for governments and health systems, and has severely impacted the health, lives and livelihood of millions of people worldwide.

While COVID-19 has affected everyone, it has had particular impact among marginalised communities such as homeless people, LGTBI people, people who use drugs, prisoners, sex workers and undocumented migrants. The pandemic has amplified existing challenges among these groups, who already face a high risk of poor health and various barriers in accessing healthcare and support services. The Nobody Left Outside (NLO) initiative recently explained these challenges and issued policy recommendations in a briefing paper for the WHO European Office for Investment for Health and Development.

The webinar “COVID-19 in Marginalised Groups – Challenges, actions and voices” organised in collaboration with the European Health Forum Gastein concludes the NLO Week 2020 – a week of online activities focusing on the unmet healthcare needs of marginalised communities. In this webinar, NLO civil society participants, academics and policymakers will discuss the impact of COVID-19 on marginalised groups, the gaps and unintended consequences of government responses, and how we can ensure future health systems and recovery measures reach everyone.

Speakers include:

Moderator: Boris Azaïs, Director, Public Policy Europe & Canada, MSD

COVID-19 Resource Centre

To support people who use drugs and other marginalized and underserved communities, as well as health and social workers delivering services under challenging conditions to bring this outbreak to a close, Correlation – European Harm Reduction Network is developing this Coronavirus Resource Centre. This capacity-building initiative complements our advocacy activities and the Joint Position on the Continuity of Harm Reduction Services During the COVID-19 Crisis that we published together with the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network, and the Rights Reporter Foundation. 

This Resource Centre brings together contributions, materials, experiences of our members, partners and allies. New/Updated materials come first, as situations change very quickly.

If you discover any out-of-date links or if there would be any links that could be included, please, let us know at this address: rpgayo@correlation-net.org

 

STATEMENTS | POSITION PAPERS | ADVOCACY

Coalition Plus, IDPC, HRI, INPUD, C-EHRN, INHSU, TAG | COVID-19: An Opportunity For POlicy Reform [June, 26th]

RCC-THV | Call to Action in Response to COVID-19 [May, 14th]

UNAIDS | Sex Workers Must not be Left Behind in the Response to COVID-19 [April, 8th]

TGEU | COVID-19 & Trans People [April, 6th]

INPUD, HRI, EHRA, IDPC et al | Call to Action COVID-19 – Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health [March, 31st]

Nobody Left Outside | EU and national government COVID-19 responses must reach everyone – including marginalised people [March, 26th]

UN Human Rights Experts | No Exceptions with COVID-19: Everyone Has the Right to Live-Saving Interventions | [March, 26th]

EATG | EATG statement on the evolving COVID-19 pandemic [March, 25th]

PICUM | The COVID-19 pandemic: We Need Urgent Measures to Protect People and Mend the Cracks in our Health, Social Protection and Migration Systems [March, 25th]

EUPHA | Statement by the EUPHA Migrant and ethnic minority health section on COVID-19 – CALL FOR ACTION [March, 24th]

UNAIDS | Rights in the time of COVID-19. Lessons from HIV for an effective, community-led response | Infographic | [March, 20th]

C-EHRN & EHRA | Harm Reduction Must Go On [March, 19th]

Human Rights Watch | Human Rights Dimensions of COVID-19 Response [March, 19th]

Global Rights / Susanna Ronconni | Prisoners Rights Matter! Statement | Article [March, 19th]

FEANTSA | COVID-19: “Staying Home” Not an Option for People Experiencing Homelessness [March, 18th]

ICRSE | COVID-19: Sex Workers Need Immediate Financial Support and Protection [March, 18th]

Penal Reform International | Coronavirus: Healthcare and Human Rights of People in Prison [March, 16th]

DPNSEE | Public Appeal to Protect Vulnerable Groups from COVID-19 [March, 2nd]

 

GUIDELINES | PROTOCOLS | GOOD PRACTICE

 

DRUG USE

EHRA | Harm reduction service delivery to people who use drugs during a public health emergency: Examples from the COVID-19 pandemic in selected countries [November 2020]

Manitoba Harm Reduction Network | Outreach Guidelines During COVID-19 [Updated, March, 26th]

EuroNPUD & INPUD & Respect Drug Users Rights | COVID-19: Advice for People who Use Drugs [March, 26th]

Forum Substitution Praxis | Newsletters on COVID-19 and Substitution Treatment [GER] [Update Daily]

Drug Reporter | How Harm Reducers Cope with the COVID-19 Pandemic in Europe? [Last update: March, 20th]

MAINline | 8 Corona-Tips voor Mensen die Drugs Gebruiken [NL] [March, 20th]

AFEW International | Mental Health & Psychological Considerations during COVID-19 Outbreak [March, 20th]

Scottish Drug Forum | Guidance on Contingency Planning for People who Use Drugs and COVID-19 (v1.0) [March, 19th]

Echele Cabeza | Consumo de Sustancias Psycoactivas en Cuarentena [SP] [March, 19th]

Zurich Drug Consumption Rooms | COVID-19 Protocols [March, 19th]

Metzineres | COVID-19 Harm Reaction Poster | Flyer (front) | Flyer (back) [March, 19th]

Energy Control | Party & Drugs in the Time of Coronavirus [March, 19th]

YALE | COVID-19 Guidance: Clinicians & Opioid Treatment Programs [March, 18th]

YALE | COVID-19 Guidance: Patients Engaged in Substance Use Treatment [March, 18th]

YALE | Guidance for People Who Use Substances on COVID-19 [March, 18th]

Arild Knutsen | An Open Letter on COVID-19 and PWUD [March, 17th]

DPNSEE | Instructions on Coronavirus for PWUD [Serb] [March, 16th]

Quality Assurance Commission for Substitution Treatment in Germany | Information on Opioid Substitution and COVID-19 – Advice for Physicians [March, 16th]

LANPUD | Drogas y COVID-19 [SP] [March, 14th]

INPUD | Harm Reduction for People Who Use Drugs [March, 13th]

Drug Policy Network SEE | Basic Protective Measures Against the New Coronavirus [March, 11th]

HRC | Safer Drug Use During the COVID-19 Outbreak [March, 11th]

HRC | Syringe Services and Harm Reduction Provider Operations During the COVID-19 Outbreak [March, 11th]

CREW | Coronavirus – General Hygiene Harm Reduction Tips [March, 4th]

 

SEX WORK

ICRSE | Sex Workers Response to COVID-19 in Europe and Central Asia [continuosly updated]
NYC Health | Information on Safer Sex during COVID-19 [March, 21st]
Butterfly Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Support Network & Maggie’s Toronto Sex Workers Action Project |Sex work COVID-19: Guidelines for Sex Workers, Clients, Third Parties, and Allies [March, 19th]

 

HOMELESSNESS

FEANTSA | Seven Measures Authorities Must Take to Protect Homeless People form COVID [March, 31st]
CDC | Interim Guidance for Responding to COVID-19 among People Experiencing Unsheltered Homelessness [March, 22nd]
Canadian Drug Policy Coalition | Homeless Shelter Bed Spacing for COVID-19 [March, 19th]
Welsh Government | Guidance for Substance Misuse and Homelessness Services (v1.0) [March, 19th]

 

PRISON

Dignity | Global Guidance & Recommendations on how to Prevent & Manage COVID-19 in Prisons [March, 25th]
WHO | Guidance on Preparedness, Prevention & Control of COVID-19 in Prisons & Places of Detention [March, 15th]

 

GENDER & SEXUAL ORIENTATION

Metzineres | Woman & Gender Non-Conforming People Who Use Drugs Surviving Violence During Quarantine [April, 8th]
NYC Health | Information on Safer Sex during COVID-19 [March, 21st]
GMSH | COVID-19: 2GBTQ MEN [March, 20th]
David Stuart | What does coronavirus (COVID-19) mean in regard to Chemsex? [March, 19th]
Energy Control | Party & Drugs in the Time of Coronavirus [March, 19th]

 

HIV, HCV & TBC

Alliance of Public Health | Practical Recommendations to Reshape a Sustainable Response to HIV/TB/HCV in the EECA Countries with COVID-19 Context [May, 14th]
WHO | Q&A on COVID-19, HIV & Antiretrovirals [March, 24th]
UNAIDS | What People Living with HIV Need to Know about HIV and COVID-19 [March, 19th]

 

MIGRATION

IASC | Interim Guidance on Scaling-up COVID-19 Outbreak in Readiness and Response Operations in Camps and Camp-like Settings [March, 17th]
Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility | Principles of Protection for Migrants, Refugees and Other Displaced Persons [   ]

 

CAPACITY BUILDING

STUDIES | REPORTS | ARTICLES

International Journal of Drug Policy | Chang, J., Agliata, J. & Marinieri, M. | COVID-19 – Enacting a ‘New Normal’ for PWUD [July, 3rd]

London School of Economics & Political Science | Saving Lives in the time of COVID-19. Case Study of Harm Reduction, Homelessness and Drug Use in Dublin, Ireland [July, 1st]

INPUD | Survey Report #1 – Health & Rights of PWUD in a COVID-19 Enviroment [June, 30th]

HRI | COVID-19, Prisons and Drug Policy | Global Scan [Last Update: June, 27th]

ICRSE & SWAN | COVID19 Crisis Impact on Access to Health Services for Sex Workers in Europe and Asia [June, 20th]

Open Society Foundations | 10 Lessons from HIV for the COVID-19 Response [June, 12th]

Global Drug Survey | GDS Global Special Edition on Covid-19 Interim Report [June, 2nd]

EMCDDA | EU Drug Markets Impact of COVID-19 [May, 29th]

EATG | Rapid Assessment #2: COVID-19 Impact on PLHIV and on Communities most affected by HIV [May, 28th]

EHRA | Harm reduction programmes during the COVID-19 crisis in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia [May, 26th]

EMCDDA | Trendspotter Briefing – Impact of COVID-19 on Drugs Services and Help-Seeking in Europe  [May, 12th]

National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Adiction Czech Republic | Rapid Assessment [April, 6th] | Rapid Assessment [May, 11th]

 

WEBINARS

FEANTSA | COVID19 & Rough Sleepers [June, 10th]

ISAM | 3rd Webinar on COVID19 and Substance Use [May, 7th]

Alliance for Public Health | COVID-19 Lessons: What can make HIV programs in EECA countries more sustainable? [May, 5th]

ISAM | 2nd Webinar on COVID19 and Substance Use [April, 15th]

INPUD, Medicines du Mond, HRI, UNDOC, WHO | COVID-19 Harm Reduction Programme Implementation [April, 6th]

International AIDS Society | COVID-19 & HIV: What you Need to Know [April, 3rd]

EU Health Policy Platform | COVID-19 European Coordinated Response to the Pandemic [April, 3rd]

CATIE |  Coping with COVID-19: Insight from the Front Lines of HIV, Hepatitis C & Harm Reduction [March, 26th]

Institute for Interdisciplinary Innovation in Healthcare | COVID-19: a Systemic Crisis [March, 25th]

ICPA | Response to COVID-19 in Prisons | Slides | [March, 19th]

ISAM | COVID-19 and Substance Dependence [March, 19th]

Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts | Medications for Opioid Use Disorder and the COVID-19 [March, 19th]

HRC | Harm Reduction, COVID-19, and People Who Use Drugs [March, 18th]

 

 

INTERVIEWS & DIALOGUES

Drug Reporter Live Sessions | Stories From the Front Line

Norway | Arild Knutsen & Øystein Bruun Ericson [May, 11th]
The Netherlands | Cedric Charvet & Aukje Polder
Spain | Pedro Quesada & Nuria Calzada
Italy | Susanna Ronconi & Pino di Pino 
Czech Republic | David Pesek, Dominika Jasekova & Pavel Bem

GDS Corona Conversations | Dialogue Series with Various Guests (selection)

Steve Rolles | Transform Drug Policy Foundation [UK]
Niamh Eastwood | Release [UK]
Judy Chang | INPUD [UK]
Mat Southwell | EuroNPUD

 

PODCASTS

Crack Down |Emergency Measures [March, 20th]

Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris |How to Handle Coronavirus Anxiety | Special Edition [March, 14th]

Healing Justice | Coronavirus: Wisdom from a Social Justice Lens [March, 13th]

Statement: Harm Reduction Must Go On!

Correlation – European Harm Reduction Network and the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association, together with the Rights Reporter Foundation, published a joint position on the continuity of harm reduction services during the COVID-19 crisis.

Download the English, Russian, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, Hungarian, Czech, Montenegrin PDF version here!

People Who Use Drugs (PWUDs) can be considered as a risk group in the COVID-19 epidemic. They often live at the margins of society with low or no access to housing, employment, financial resources, social and health care, and face systematic discrimination and criminalisation in the majority of countries. Many of them have multiple health problems, which can increase the risk of a (fatal) COVID-19 infection (including long-term diseases such as COPD, HIV, TB, cancer, and other conditions which reduce the immune system). Harm reduction services are often the one and only contact point for PWUDs to access the health service. They provide health and social services as well as other basic support, and function as an essential link to other life-saving services. We call on local and national governments and international organisations introducing safety measures and to:

1. Ensure the continuity and sustainability of harm reduction and other low-threshold services for PWUDs during the COVID-19 epidemic. This includes, in particular, Opiate Substitution Treatment (OST), Heroin Assisted Treatment (HAT), Needle and Syringe Programs (NSP), naloxone provision, and continued access to Drug Consumption Rooms (DCRs). In addition, essential basic services need to be provided, including day and night shelter, showers, clothing, food, and other services. This is of particular importance to those who experience homelessness and/or live on the streets.

2. Provide adequate funding for harm reduction and other low-threshold service providers, and supply them with adequate equipment to protect staff and clients from infections (soap, hand sanitiser, disposable face-masks, tissues etc.).

3. Acknowledge the important and critical role of harm reduction and other low-threshold services in the COVID-19 pandemic and address the specific vulnerable situation of PWUDs and other related groups.

4. Develop specific guidelines and regulations for harm reduction services, with respect to the vulnerable situation of PWUDs and related target groups. These guidelines should be developed in close cooperation with involved staff and the affected communities, and build on international WHO guidelines, recommendations, and evidence and/or national COVID-19 regulations.

More specifically we call for the following:

5. OST and HAT should be maintained and take-home regulations should be established or extended for patients to have the opportunity to come for treatment rarely then ones a week. Access through pharmacies should be ensured.

6. NSP should provide PWUDs with larger amounts of needles, syringes, and other paraphernalia to minimise the number of contacts. Special bins for needles and syringes should be provided to collect used material at home.

7. Harm reduction services should provide COVID-19 prevention material and information for staff, volunteers, and service users, including soap, alcohol-based hand sanitisers that contain at least 60% alcohol, tissues, trash baskets, and disposable face-masks (if this is requested by national regulations), for people who show symptoms like fever, coughing, and sneezing.

8. Drop-in services, day shelters, and DCRs should advise and support PWUDs in preventing COVID-19 infections. Visitors should be made to sanitise their hands when entering and should stay no longer than is absolutely necessary. Kitchens can prepare take-away food to be eaten outdoors. All necessary measures should be made to increase social distancing among visitors/staff with all possible means, and rooms should be ventilated. Overcrowding in harm reductions services, shelters, and DCRs should be avoided, by establishing safety measures, e.g. minimising the duration of stay, maximum number of visitors, entering only once per day. People with permanent housing should be encouraged to stay at home and come only to pick up needles and other harm reduction paraphernalia and tools.

9. The health situation of PWUDs should be monitored closely. If someone shows symptoms, such as fever and coughing, face-masks should be provided and a medical check-up should be ensured. Cooperation agreements with public health services, related health units, and hospitals need to be established to ensure direct medical support, follow up care, and treatment.

10. Night shelters need to be made available for people experiencing homelessness, with a separation in place between those who are not infected and those who are infected and need to be quarantined but do not need specific medical care and treatment in hospitals. Night shelters have to comply with the overall safety regulations for COVID-19, and people should not be exposed to additional risks for infection through overcrowding and insufficient health care.

11. Group-related services, such as meetings and consultations, should be cancelled and postponed until further notice or organised as online services. New treatment admissions should be temporarily suspended. Coercive measures (e.g treatment referrals made by court/prosecutor/police, probation officer visits etc.) should be suspended. Mandatory urine sampling should be abolished.

12. Harm reduction services should establish a safe working environment and make sure that staff are well informed and protected against infection. Service providers should identify critical job functions and positions, and plan for alternative coverage by involving other staff members in service delivery.