For three years, Serbia was not eligible for funding from the Global Fund, which resulted in the closure of harm reduction programs around the country. The movie, prepared by NGO Re Generation, gives a glimpse of the desperate situation faced by injecting drug users in Serbia, and also explores the consequences of the closure of needle exchange programs in Belgrade, whilst trying to assess the current situation in the country!
Serbia is at the crossroads of a number of heroin trafficking routes. It has a significant population of injecting drug users – 20,000 according to the official estimates. Thanks to grants from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, several harm reduction services were introduced during the first decade of this century. Approximately two thousand people enrolled in opiate substitution programs, and four needle exchange programs provided sterile equipment to injecting drug users. The prevalence of HIV among drug users was low, though access to harm reduction services was far from adequate – the best indicator of risk being the high prevalence of Hepatitis C infections.
The last grant from the Global Fund ended in June 2014. The Government made no commitment to continue funding the programs, and there are no other international donors available to step in and cover the harm reduction funding gap. This resulted in closing of all needle and syringe projects except one, which is operated by Association Prevent in Novi Sad. Three years later, the Government has changed but the programs are still out of focus when it comes to national funding!
What it means for Serbia at this point, and what it will mean for the future of the needle and syringe programs in the country is yet unknown. To find out more, watch the movie “Without Shift” produced by NGO Re Generation with support of Drug Reporter, exploring the opinions of different stakeholders on the topic.
More than 50% of people living with HIV worldwide are women. In Europe 1 in 3 HIV diagnoses concerns women. In Greece, 66,5% of women that have been diagnosed with HIV, until today, acquired the virus through heterosexual sexual intercourse.
The above data combined with the fact that there is lack of female-oriented awareness campaigns in Greece, motivated the Centre for Life (Kentro Zois) to design a powerful awareness campaign for the female population, focusing on heterosexual intercourse, in order to convey the message that HIV concerns women as well and that women can take the initiative for a healthy sex life.
Centre for Life’s campaign entitled “Take the first step for your protection” has the valuable support of the Melina Merkouri Foundation and constitutes the first coordinated awareness effort for women concerning HIV and/or AIDS in Greece. Leading roles of the campaign are played by Lena Drosaki, Lena Papaligoura, Ioanna Pappa and Gioulika Skafida, actresses that have been awarded with the Melina Merkouri Theatre Award for their performances.
Kentro Zois would like to thank the Dramatic Arts of the Piraeus Society and the talented actors Augoustinos Koumoulos, Dinos Gelameris, Angelos Dallas , Nikos Mavrakis & Elias Adam for their particpation, Larry Gus for letting us use the song “Aggelos Kiriou”, as well as Pitch for the warm hospitality.
The Centre of Life, since its foundation, implements support and empowerment services for seropositive women, as well as information and prevention actions for the female population. Women are a population particularly vulnerable to HIV, both due to biological factors and psychosocial factors. Given all the above, the Centre for Life considers of utmost importance the message of information and proper prevention to reach all women, thus inviting the public to support this effort for an issue that concerns us all.
The South Eastern European Adriatic Addiction Treatment Network invites you to come to Budva, Montenegro‚, from 12 to 14 October 2017, to celebrate the 8th Adriatic Drug Addiction Treatment Conference and the 16th SEEA Symposium on Addictive Behaviours and to be a part of the premier addiction treatment conference in the region.
In the last few years SEEAnet has organised joint international conferences with Global Addiction Association and numerous other events in the region. They have been included in developing treatment programmes and trainings in Africa, Americas, Asia and Europe. Knowledge and experience from SEEAnet region have been so shared internationally. Addictions continue to remain in the front of medicine and other sciences and practices as the reaction to new challenges in this field in our changing world.
The main conference topics are treatment of drug users with comorbidities and cooperation with drug prevention, harm reduction, treatment and rehabilitation programs, specially psychiatric but not at all excluding other medical, social, educational, law enforcement … services and NGOs in the region, specially Montenegro, treatment of people who use new psychoactive substances, treatment of Hepatitis C, different praxis trough the region, treatment in prisons and use of medical cannabinoides.
The registration is open and organisers are now accepting abstracts submissions on all topics of the addictions keeping registration fees on 2009 levels when the conference had been already in beautiful Budva and where you had wanted to return again.
More about the Conference is available from the SEEAnet website HERE>>>
Association Prevent held action „Support. Don’t Punish“ for the third time in Novi Sad and for the first time in Kragujevac. In Novi Sad target group were students and in Kragujevac visitors of the music festival Arsenal fest. With these two actions few thousand people were reached directly.
Campaign started on 20 June when the media were informed about the action. Prevent also spread information through social networks and during campaign reached over 30 thousand people in this way.
Campaign continued with action in Kragujevac during music festival Arsenal fest in period from 22 to 24 June. Members of Prevent were there, talked to the visitors and photographed them with the slogan of the campaign.
On 26th June action was held in front of the student’s dormitory in Novi Sad. Photo booth (photo cabin for selfies) raised special attention of the visitors. They made a lot of photographs and in the same time they supported this campaign. Location was selected because young people are the key agents of change in society and that they could understand message the best.
Beside photo boot visitors of the action had a chance to talk with Prevent members and to read about the campaign from printed material.
Action in Novi Sad was visited by three the biggest TV stations (Radio and television of Vojvodina – public service, Novosadian television and Chanel 9) and two journalists from newspaper (Dnevnik and Magyar Szó). Information about the action was published on 12 internet portals. Few days after the activity, Chanel 9 organized 45 minutes long TV show dedicated to this issue. Guest in this show was president of the Association Prevent, Mr. Nebojša Đurasović.
In the period from June 22 to July 07, as part of the “Support Don’t Punish” campaign, Healthy Options Project Skopje – HOPS has implemented activities in Macedonia.
Along with the Sustainability Platform for HIV Awareness Programs, on 22 June 2017, HOPS held a press conference for the need of providing financial resources and continuation of HIV prevention and harm reduction programs in the Republic of Macedonia. Dr. Arben Tarawari, new Minister of Health, also attended to the press conference and stated that the Ministry will support the programs.
The press conference with Dr. Arben Tarawari, Minister of Health
On June 16th 2017, a public call for the best journalistic article was published on the topic: „Sustainability and the need of harm reduction programs in the Republic of Macedonia”. Up to the deadline, 6 articles of journalism (5 texts and 1 video) were reported to the call. The articles evaluation committee has selected the two best articles, followed by a 300$ prize for the first place, and 200$ for second place. The winners are publicly announced on the HOPS website.
Logo of the campaign
With „Save Lives“ logo, an online petition was published to support harm reduction and HIV prevention programs in Republic of Macedonia. So far, 659 persons have signed the on-line petition. Additionally, on June 27th 2017, a stand for collecting signatures for support a petition was set on the city square in Skopje. In total, 980 signatures are collected. The petition will be submitted to the Ministry of Health and the Government of the Republic of Macedonia.
The Romanian Harm Reduction Network has organized on the 26th of July 2017 a public event in the old town part of Bucharest, as part of the “Support. Don’t Punish” campaign. There were participants from the Anti-AIDS Romanian Association (ARAS), the Alliance to Fight Alcoholism and Addictions (ALIAT), the Parada Foundation and Totem Association, that distributed flyers and stickers with SDP logo, “The Decriminalisation saves lives!” message, with harm reduction and health centered messages for 7 hours. The Forbidden comics and condoms were distributed.
Street event in the old town part of Bucharest
Organisers posted 3 roll-ups with information on drug use, health and decriminalisation needs. The Totem association was present with their drums, inviting people to sit down, join the singing and find out about the campaign. The street children trained at Parada Foundation joined with Totem in providing a joint circus/drums show.
For one more year, the global campaign “Support.Don’t Punish” has been successfully implemented in Greece. In 2017, 6 different civil society organizations – that constitute the Greek NGO Platform for Psychoactive Substances, an unofficial initiative for joint action among organizations working in the area of drug policy and psychoactive substances – joined forces and cooperated in order to effectively spread the message of the campaign, sensitize the public, raise awareness regarding the harms being caused by the criminalization of people who use drugs and promote the need for human rights and public health oriented drug policy and drug law reform.
The organizations that supported the implementation of the campaign were:
“CENTRE FOR LIFE” for the support of people living with HIV/AIDS [DPNSEE member]
“DIOGENIS”- Drug Policy Dialogue [IDPC partner member & DPNSEE partner member]
“PeNUPS”- Peer Network of Users of Psychoactive Substances
“POSITIVE VOICE”- Association of People living with HIV/AIDS [DPNSEE member]
“PROMETHEUS” – Hellenic Liver Patient Association [DPNSEE member]
For the achievement of the aforementioned goals, two main activities were implemented:
A press interview (June 27th, 12.00-14.00h, at Romantso, 3-5 Anaksagora Street, Omonia, Athens)
A street event (June 27th, 19.00h at SIN Athina, Athens)
Furthermore, before the 27th of June, representatives of these organizations took the initiative to spread the message of the campaign during several official events, that were organized by state authorities by asking officials, journalists, scientists, decision-makers and other high-ranking representatives of governmental organizations to take a photograph with the logo of “Support.Don’t Punish” (e.g. Mrs. Teta Papoutsopoulou-Diamantopoulou, the National Drug Coordinator; Mr. Evaggelos Kavetzopoulos, President of the Hellenic Organization against Drugs- OKANA; Mr. Nikolaos Manios, Chairman of the Parliament’s Committee on Social Affairs; Μr. Nikolaos Paraskevopoulos, MP and former Minister of Justice).
The press interview given by representatives of PeNUPS
The press interview was given by representatives of PeNUPS (Peer Network of Users of Psychoactive Substances), Mr. Christos Anastasiou and Mr. John Kissas, promoting in that way peer involvement which is one of the basic principles of Harm Reduction.
The remaining organizations actively supported the needs for the preparation and successful implementation of this activity. It was the first time that people coming from the community of PWUD had the floor in a press interview, which attracted 30 participants and was coordinated by the journalist Mrs. Ioanna Sotirchou.
During the afternoon of the 27th of June, a street event also took place in the center of Athens. The goals of this activity were to make the campaign more visible, celebrate the message of “Support.Don’tPunish”, provide informational material and offer some services both to the general population and vulnerable groups (including PWUD) in the area.
The street event in the center of Athens
Volunteers from the coordinating organizations actively contributed in the implementation. T-shirts, bags, stickers with the logo of “Support. Don’t Punish” and flyers with the basic principles of Harm Reduction were distributed. In addition, NGO Praksis offered free, anonymous and voluntary rapid testing for HIV, HBV and HCV with its mobile unit. Moreover, of outmost importance was the contribution of the initiative “STEPS” that helped in the preparation of food and beverages and offered music. This event gathered and united around a hundred people.
For the needs of campaign’s promotion a facebook page was created under the title: Support.Don’t Punish -Greece- where you can have access to more detailed information, videos and photographs. Facebook advert was used attract more people to the page, resulted in 300 likes within a week.
2 facebook events were also created for the promotion of the two activities:
As in previous years, Association Margina from Bosnia Herzegovina organized several activities within the campaign “Support. Don’t Punish”, this year on two locations: Tuzla and Zenica. During this year’s campaign, their goal was to focus on young people as target population through two aspects: scientific -through public debates at two universities in Tuzla and Zenica, as well as support for contemporary music events for young people – Sound of Nature Festival.
Activities had solid media coverage and the main goal was achieved. The messages were transferred and taken very seriously. Margina’s management was invited and held two meetings with the creators and decision-makers in these two regions, as well as the extraordinary hosting of the two most visited TV companies upon campaign completion. What they are most pleased with are the 50 new volunteers of the organization, with whom the coordinator has already begun preparations for new activities.
Support. Don’t Punish publlic debate
Chronologically the activities happened in this sequence:
25 June – Support to the Sound of Nature festival – 1300 participants, 800 leaflets and 4000 condoms distributed
26 June – The press release, with all details of the campaign, goals, history and data for Bosnia and Herzegovina on drug use, human rights violations and evidence base approach in creating a public health approach to drug users and their families
27 June – Public debate at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zenica, with participation of 90 participants
30 June – A public debate at the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation, University of Tuzla, where a press conference was held, followed by a debate with students with a total of 60 participants
01 July – Margina President participated in the thematic show for half an hour
Generally, Margina is satisfied with these activities, especially with participation of the young ones, under the advice and support of the senior staff of our organization. They are especially pleased to have new members joining their volunteer team, which is preparing for the new activities and new challenges set by the organization.
On Monday, 26 June 2017, the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, NGO ReGeneration in the cooperation with KSEA ethnology and anthropology student club, organized a movie marathon within “Support. Don’t Punish” campaign. The event was organized on the open terrace of independent art space “Kvaka 22” in Belgrade while the movies were screened inside. Within movie program, the following three movies were presented: “Without shift”, “Clubbing and youth health” and “Medical cannabis legalization in Serbia”. All of the three documentaries were directed by the ReGeneration members and they present the projects and programs that were conducted by this organization.
Movie “Without shift” was premiered this time and it investigates what happened to NPB programs after the withdraw of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria from Serbia. The second movie follows the clubbing scene in Belgrade and the relationship between youth and psychoactive substances. Also, the results of the research which has involved 3318 young people were presented. The third film focuses on the story about medical cannabis legalization in local and global context.
First screening of the “Without shift” movie
Our guests were Siniša Dugonjić, the director of photography and editor of the first and the third movie, then Galeb Nikačević, who was interviewed in one of these movies but he has himself made some documentaries in „Vice“ production which consider the psychoactive substances in a different manner, and Milutin Milošević, the executive director of DPNSEE, who was also a protagonist in movies.
After the screening, the discussion was moved to the terrace, where the panel for #SupportDontPunish campaign was set. Informal meeting happened during the sunset, on this beautifully decorated terrace. The discussion was interactive, with minimal support of moderators. The guests from different fields – anthropologists, journalists, directors, designers, pharmacists, medical workers etc., contributed to the interdisciplinarity of youth education. Through the discussion, many questions have been raised, like the one about media attention to psychoactive substances in region, laws, politics and general discourse about psychoactive substances. In future, ReGeneration will continue to inform youth and to raise awareness about new psychoactive substances.
Further survival of harm reduction programs and HIV prevention in the Republic of Macedonia is uncertain. The current financial support from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria ends in June 2017. This will result with leaving over 10,000 people who use drugs as well as their family members without proper social and health care.
Thanks to harm reduction programs, only two new HIV cases have been recorded in Macedonia in the last ten years as a result of drugs injecting and less than 5% of 315 registered cases of HIV were people who inject drugs. These figures are far smaller than in the neighbouring countries. Macedonia can boast with the lowest HIV rate in Southeast Europe, but if these programs are not implemented, there is a risk of HIV epidemics as a result of interaction with the epidemics in neighbouring countries and the possibility of increasing risk behaviours.
There are 17 harm reduction programs in Macedonia (4 in Skopje and 13 in different other cities). These programs are efficient and financially worthwhile. According to the research analyses, the cost for one client in harm reduction programs is approximately 155 € per year. In contrast, the cost only for medicines for a patient with hepatitis C is up to 13.194 €, and the untimely and inappropriate treatment of hepatitis C causes cirrhosis and liver cancer, whose treatment costs more than 30.000 € per patient. Additionally, the costs of treating HIV and hepatitis C financially exhaust the families of people in need of treatment, thereby further multiplying undesirable costs and disrupting overall social well-being.
Therefore, a petition was initiated to request the Ministry of Health and the Government of the Republic of Macedonia to:
Adopt an urgent solution for using funds from the HIV program and the remaining funds from the Global Fund for key programs across the country, which will ensure continued assistance to citizens and the prevention of HIV.
Establish cooperation between the Ministry of Health and the civil society and other stakeholders for adoption of appropriate laws or by-laws and measures that will guarantee transparency, adequate expertise and long-term sustainability and development of HIV prevention programs.
Healthy Options Project Skopje produced advocacy movie in cooperation with Drugreporter to support the campaign and save underfunded harm reduction programmes which are a huge success in the region. Watch the video produced and learn more!
