AIDS. It’s Not Over

The AIDS Conference has been very busy with harm reduction sessions. I met a lot of new people and reconnected with people I knew from when I ran a needle exchange program.  So many regions and so many perspectives were represented.  Adeeba Kamazulzaman, a physician from Malaysia, talked about Substance Abuse and Harm Reduction in the Tuesday plenary session – and made a personal appeal for the release of her close colleagues Drs. Arash and Kamiar Alaei who are detained by the Iranian government.  There were great presentations and discussions around research, human rights and harm reduction.  Caitlin Padgett of YouthRISE participated in many panels and events to increase the focus on youth with the harm reduction movement, and Stijn Gossens of INPUD stressed the importance of including drug users in all harm reduction discussions and strategizing.