Could a United Nations organisation lead to a worsening of drug-related harms?
The intimate link between illicit injection drug use and the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) represents a global public health emergency. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimates that syringe sharing among illicit injection drug users (IDU) contributes to approximately one-third of new HIV infections outside of sub-Saharan Africa. Addressing this requires collaboration between both illicit drug control and public health systems. The authors point out that there are international agencies which continue to ignore this reality, with the most worrisome being the International Narcotics Control Board. Although various international consensus documents have highlighted the value of sterile syringe distribution programs, such as needle exchange the INCB’s reluctance to support this evidence-based approach to HIV prevention has been well described. It is noted that drug control conventions should not support policy decisions which can lead to worsenin
