In wide-ranging opening remarks to the current session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna,Cheap Authentic Jerseys, the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Yury Fedotov placed HIV and drug use at the heart of the global agenda.“HIV transmission through injecting drug use continues to be one of the main unresolved challenges of the international community. Widespread stigma,China Jerseys Cheap, discrimination and lack of access to evidence-informed HIV services are among the key challenges,” he said.Addressing the gathering of more than 1,000 representatives of Member States and civil society,Cheap Jerseys From China, he suggested that despite “notable progress” in increasing access to HIV services for people who inject drugs, there is still a long way to go.In an apparent nod to the post-2015 development agenda Mr Fedotov put the challenge of the epidemic within the context of a health and rights-based prism: “[H]uman rights and public health considerations must be at the core of the international response to drug use and HIV,” he maintained.The global challenge to this pressing issue has been gaining momentum. Through the June 2011 United Nations General Assembly Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS, the world is committed to halving the number of drug users who acquire HIV by 2015.According to UNAIDS, harm reduction strategies are crucial to prevent new HIV infections among people who use drugs. A comprehensive, evidence-informed package requires: needle and syringe programmes,Wholesale Jerseys Online, opioid substitution therapy, HIV testing and counselling, antiretroviral therapy and condom programmes for people who use drugs and their sexual partners.It also entails prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, tuberculosis and hepatitis as well as information, education and communication materials intended specifically for people who use drugs.This stigmatized population bears a very heavy burden of the virus,Cheap Authentic Jerseys, which is often transmitted through the use of unsterilized needles. UNAIDS’ global report 2012 contains some sobering statistics. In 49 countries HIV prevalence among people who inject drugs is at least 22 times higher than among the population as a whole and in 11 countries their level of infection is more than 50 times higher.A 2008 global study showed that three million people were living with HIV. In several countries—notably in Eastern Europe and Central Asia,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, one of two regions where the number of new infections is increasing—the AIDS epidemic is being driven by unsafe injecting drug use.People who use drugs are much less likely to be reached by HIV-related services, such as testing. HIV-positive women who use drugs do not access programmes to prevent their children being born with the virus as often as other women.Surveys in capital cities reveal that drug users also report lower condom use than men who have sex with men or sex workers.The Commission on Narcotic Drugs is the United Nations central policy-making body mandated to deal with a broad range of drug-related issues.
