In Vilnius, Lithuania on April 4-6, the First Regional Harm Reduction Conference for Central Eastern Europe and Central Asia (CEECA), hosted by the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network (EHRN), brings together 400 participants from 45 countries.
The main issues and tasks set forth for the participants of the Regional Conference “Harm Reduction in the New Environment” are reflected in the themes of the three days of the conference:
Day 1 – Funding of harm reduction in the new environment;
Day 2 – The role of harm reduction in social and medical care for people who use drugs;
Day 3 – Harm reduction – the way to achieve an effective and human rights-based drug policy.
The Drug Policy Network South East Europe and the present member organisation participated in the plenary sessions and the experiences of our member organisations Prevent from Serbia and PROI from Bosnia and Herzegovina were presented during the workshop: “Is there life for harm reduction programs in the region without financial support from external donors?”. The work of Juventas [K1] from Montenegro was also presented at the workshop “Mechanisms and models of governmental funding of harm reduction services”.
The EHRN conference is an excellent opportunity for exchange and building partnerships. So far, the representatives of the Network held discussions with Gyongyver Jakab, Portfolio Manager, S&T Focal Point for Balkan Countries, the Global Fund, Michel Kazatchkine, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and Vinay Saldanha, Director of the Regional Support Team for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Jindrich Voboril, National Anti-Drug Coordinator, Director of the Secretariat of the Government Council for Anti-Drug Policy Coordination, Czech Republic Yuliya Georgieva, Chair of the Centre for Human Policy, Bulgaria, Kirsten Horsburgh, National Naloxone Coordinator, Scotland regarding future cooperation and support.
