M'sia Hosts 24th International Harm Reduction Conference In October

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 29 (Bernama) -- Kuala Lumpur has been given the honour to host the four-day, 24th International Harm Reduction Conference beginning Oct 12, as a platform to global focal point knowledge sharing, networking and promoting evidence-based best practices in the field of harm reduction. Malaysian AIDS Council (MAC) president Dr Raj Karim said Malaysia's selection would be the first time for the event to be staged in a Muslim-majority country in Southeast Asia, and it was set to highlight issues and challenges in the drug response sector which was specific to the region. Held every two years, the event is targetted to attract 1,000 international delegates from over 70 countries, including front-line service providers, scientists and researchers, as well as professional people from international and United Nations organisations. "The International Harm Reduction conference is relevant, especially now, for we are at an extremely critical juncture in our collective responses to both the HIV and drug epidemics. "The conference is both an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to evidence-based harm reduction programming, and a reminder of the pressing need to accelerate our efforts towards the Millennium Development Goals expiring in 2015," she said in a statement to Bernama here Wednesday. Meanwhile, Harm Reduction International executive director, Dr Rick Lines said leadership would be a key theme of the conference, appropriately so in the recognition of the Malaysian Government’s leadership on harm reduction programming. He said Kuala Lumpur's commitment on harm reduction had contributed to more than 50 per cent drop in new HIV infections in people who injected drugs since its implementation in 2006. "It is also to emphasise that we will not meet the global challenges presented by issues such as HIV and overdose, without brave and committed leadership in every level, from the community to the United Nations," he said. Harm Reduction International is a leading global non-governmental organisation working to reduce drug-related harm by promoting evidence-based public health policy and practices and human rights-based approaches to the drug policy. MAC was established in 1992 to serve as an umbrella organisation to support and coordinate efforts of non-governmental and other organisations working on HIV and AIDS issues in Malaysia. -- BERNAMA