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Doctors of the World - Médecins du Monde (MdM), a key player in Harm Reduction, will be present at the 19th International AIDS Conference to be held in Washington from 22-27 July to convey a message: fight HIV and HCV, not people using drugs!
HIV/AIDS
Doctors of the World has long been committed to delivering programmes to the general population for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. In recent years, Doctors of the World has decided to redirect its activities towards the most-at-risk groups in France and abroad, including drug users, sex workers, gay and transgender people - the groups most often excluded from health care systems, thus more vulnerable.
The Harm Reduction (HR) approach is recognized at a global level as being the most effective method for reducing HIV transmission among these most-at-risk groups.
Giving priority to a community-based approach in its programmes, the Doctors of the World (MDM)delegation in Washington will consist of HR teams involved in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Tanzania, Myanmar and France.
Doctors of the World will convey two main messages at the conference:
- For coinfected persons: accessing affordable treatments for hepatitis C is imperative. HCV is becoming one the leading cause of mortality among people living with HIV.
- Promotion of HR in Africa where the management of these at-risk groups is almost nonexistent.
Currently, less than 1% of drug users in the continent have access to healthcare.
Doctors of the World is supporting the opening of the first consumption facility in France, and at the same time reiterates the urgent need to support innovative practices in the fight against epidemics of AIDS and viral hepatitis C with at-risk groups.
Read the positioning paper and the programmes in France and abroad.
See the programme of the Doctors of the World delegation at the conference.
