Representatives from the BOOST project implementation organisations – C-EHRN, EHRA, EuroNPUD, and DPNSEE – met in Amsterdam on 30 and 31 January 2024.
The aim of the meeting was to finalize the European Advocacy Strategy, ensuring comprehensive access to HIV, HCV, and TB services for people who use drugs, based on online dialogues and consultations with regional network governing bodies.
The objectives of the meeting were:
- To determine key advocacy priorities for the European harm reduction networks over the coming years.
- To explore opportunities for advocating at the European level for comprehensive harm reduction services for people who use drugs.
- To focus on establishing a unified European advocacy agenda aimed at implementing effective models for the prevention, treatment, and care of communicable diseases, tailored specifically for people who use drugs, at the European, national, and local levels.
As a result, four regional European priorities were agreed in each thematic area of the project. In addition, actionable and SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) advocacy goals achievable at the regional level within the next 3-5 years were developed and relevant stakeholders and potential project partners were identified.
The final Strategy is expected to be launched and published in March 2024 and will be implemented with the support of a broader network of European harm reduction and drug policy organisations.
In February, the networks will launch a call for local harm reduction services to support the development and implementation of Local Advocacy Plans in 6 countries/cities.
We are glad to underline that 6 out of 19 participants came from South East Europe, although representing different partner organisations in the project.
