Moving from a project to programmatic response: scaling up harm reduction in Asia

Abstract

The response to the HIV epidemics among people who inject drugs in Asia began to emerge in the early to mid 1990s, with the rather hesitant implementation of small-scale needle syringe programmes and community care initiatives aiming to support those who were already living with the virus. Since then Asia has seen a significant scaling up of harm reduction, despite very limited resources and difficult policy and legislative environments. One of the major reasons this has happened, is the utilisation of programme based approaches and the firm entrenchment of harm reduction thinking within national HIV/AIDS programmes and strategic plans--in most cases aided by multilateral and bilateral donors. Several models of scale up have been noted in Asia. The transition away from project based approaches, while on the whole positive, can also have a negative impact if the involvement of civil society and a client focussed approach is not protected. Also there are implications for which models of capacity building can be systematised for ongoing scale up. Most crucially, the tensions between drug policy, human rights and public health policies need to be resolved if harm reduction services are to be made available to the millions in Asia who are still unable to access these services.