Huffington Post: The World Needs a Healthier, Rights-based Approach Towards People Who Use Drugs
Michel Sidibé, executive director of UNAIDS

“…In a new report, ‘Do no harm: health, human rights and people who use drugs,’ UNAIDS presents the evidence for what works to reduce the impact of HIV and other harms associated with drug use. Countries that have shifted their focus away from laws and policies that are harmful to people who use drugs and that have increased investment in harm reduction programs have reduced new HIV infections and improved health outcomes. … UNAIDS would like to see a global adoption of a people-centered, public health, and human rights-based approach to drug use. … There is a unique opportunity to begin to treat people who use drugs with dignity and respect, to provide people who use drugs with equal access to health and social services, to greatly reduce the harms of drug use and to take a step towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals” (4/19).