EU Joint Action - Political support needed for sufficient harm reduction for drug users
“With every little step we are moving forward”, Anastasia Pharris from ECDC summarized in the final conference that marked the closure of the EU Joint Action HA-REACT project on 23 November 2018 in Bucharest, Romania.
Focused on harm reduction the three-year project addressed existing gaps in the prevention of HIV, TB and viral hepatitis among injecting drug users (PWID). Altogether 22 partners from 18 EU member states developed activities under eight work packages. Based on a risk assessment by ECDC and EMCDDA Latvia, Lithuania, and Hungary were chosen as focus countries that were most likely to benefit from the project activities. Czech Republic and Poland offered to contribute especially in the prison harm reduction.
The Joint Action HA-REACT was the largest proposal, in terms of budget and participation, with harm reduction approach that has ever been funded in the EU. All final conference participants agreed that the work has been rewarding and productive with many achievements. Trainings for people who work with PWID, including prison staff, were organized. Study visits, seminars, workshops and materials, both electronic and printed were produced. A comprehensive e-learning package for professionals working with PWID was published on the website https://harmreduction.eu/
Project management was evaluated as effective
The project partners Heike Zurhold and Marcus Martens from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf presented preliminary results from their internal evaluation. The evaluation revealed that the mobile unit offering harm reduction services in Latvia and the provision of rapid HIV and HCV testing in Hungary were considered as most useful among the focus country participants. An overall observation was that political support is crucial in rooting any activity connected to harm reduction.
An external evaluator Joseph Radimecky from Department of Addictology of the Charles University in Prague stated that the HA-REACT project has contributed to the EU HIV and drug policies, and the work has largely been in line with the focus countries’ needs. Among his many recommendations he suggested that the European Commission could perform a long-term evaluation of the project impact.
Project manager Outi Karvonen from THL, Finland has been in charge of the project coordination from the very beginning. She appreciates the constructive team spirit of the HA-REACT community. The external evaluation considered the project management effective. However, Outi Karvonen lists a few challenges, among which are structural changes in some partner organizations and lack of human resources in some. Also involving more collaborating partners and advisors proved demanding.
Dirk Schäffer, representing the PWID community said that the involvement of 18 governments in the HA-REACT project is a wonderful result. For his community harm reduction means improving and maintaining quality of life.
“I am convinced that HA-REACT increased knowledge on harm reduction, testing and linkage to care, and the project also generated nice tools for prisons.”
The HA-REACT final conference was held in connection of the 4th European Harm Reduction Conference in Bucharest and its results were presented in many sessions.
The EU Joint Action HA-REACT project was coordinated by the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Finland
Further information
Outi Karvonen
Development Manager
THL, International Affairs and Research Support Office
Tel.: +358 29 524 7046
[email protected]
Official project website
AidsAction Europe
Harmreduction EU
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