Correlation – European Harm Reduction Network

Today is #WorldMentalHealthDay!
Looking for recommendations and practical exercises to support harm reduction staff’s mental health? 💡 Check out C-EHRN’s Mental Health Guidelines:
buff.ly/41uTMhW

🎥 The recording of the webinar “European People who Use Drugs Communities Respond to HIV” is available now!

💡 Our policy officer Arianna Rogialli joined EuroNPUD's webinar to discuss peer-led harm reduction initiatives.

🔗 Watch the recording here: buff.ly/hWNwbVG

🌎 NEW: The World Health Organization (@who.int) published an updated opioid agonist maintenance treatment (OAMT) implementation guidance

🔗 Read the guidance here: buff.ly/P1DMebj

📢 New Webinar Announcement!

Join us to learn more about the achievements and challenges of the current naloxone policies and practices across Europe.

📅 5 November 2025
🕛 13:00–14:30 CET
📍 Online (Zoom) | Register here: buff.ly/yt2nElt

Scher et al. show how DCRs foster belonging & social connection, beyond overdose prevention.

Access the Special Collection: 👉 buff.ly/yXnGbp1

#HarmReduction

📢 New ECIDP report: European Cities on the Frontline

Cities face underfunding, stigma & new drug trends, but they are also leading harm reduction with innovative, community-driven solutions.

🔗 Read here: buff.ly/JixphOw

#HarmReduction

50 years of harm reduction in Europe: It’s time for transformation. Harm reduction is more than needles: it’s about improving lives. To make this possible, we need sustainable funding and the real involvement of people who use drugs.

👉 buff.ly/yXnGbp1

#HarmReduction #Transformation

📺 Recording available: Homelessness & Drug Use - 9th EPOCH Practice Webinar with Joana de Jesus Moura (C-EHRN).

The session explored challenges, stigma & ways to improve housing access for people who use drugs.

Watch here: 👉 buff.ly/XgLkMWk

Europe has led harm reduction for decades, but progress is uneven across the wider region. This commentary urges renewed courage & investment to face today’s drug challenges.

👉 buff.ly/yXnGbp1

#HarmReduction #PublicHealth #DrugPolicy

🌍 EuroNPUD is hosting “We are ready: European PUD Communities Respond to HIV”, a webinar on 24 Sept, 12:00–13:30 WET.

It will spotlight peer-led harm reduction & HIV responses across Europe.

💻 Online (Zoom) | Register here: buff.ly/YWdnERx

🚨 The EU’s new “Return Regulation” is in reality a Deportation Regulation.
It expands detention - including in offshore sites - fuels racial profiling & strips away rights.

👉 Read why civil society is united in rejecting it: buff.ly/hHI111Z

#StopDeportationRegulation #CommunitiesOfCare

Urgent call for continued WHO leadership on harm reduction for people who use drugs – Open letter to the WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Civil society urges WHO to sustain leadership on harm reduction, resist funding cuts, and ensure meaningful community involvement.

⛔️ The @WHO mustn't retreat from #HarmReduction. Weakened mandate = more HIV, hepatitis, overdoses, and deaths. ⛔️

Together with 176 civil society & community groups, @idpc.net urges strong WHO leadership to protect people who use drugs.

Read & share:

Every step towards less harm counts.
Read the interview with our network’s director Katrin Schiffer on 20 years of advancing harm reduction in Europe:

👉 Read the full interview (in Dutch): buff.ly/NgSS4e5
📸 Photography: Mila van Egmond

Formal complaint to the @ec.europa.eu on the 2025 #EU4Health operating grant procedure!

🔗 Read the letter: eu4health.eu/formal-compl...

Europe’s most powerful political party has picked an unexpected enemy: NGOs. After it claimed Brussels was secretly bankrolling green lobbyists, journalists Lise Witteman and Hans Wetzels of Follow… How Europe’s largest party made an enemy out of NGOs

Europe’s most powerful party is taking aim at NGOs.

Journalists Lise Witteman & Hans Wetzels investigated the EPP’s claims about “Brussels bankrolling lobbyists” and uncovered a very different story.

🎙️ Hosted by Emma du Chatinier & Alexander Fanta
👉 Watch the full episode: buff.ly/kN8JIxn

Please join our urgent call to the World Health Organization (WHO) on harm reduction The International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD), Harm Reduction International (HRI) and the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) invite you to join us in a civil society sign-on letter to the World Health Organization, urging them to ensure continued focused and capacity on harm reduction despite drastic budget and staffing cuts. The letter reads as follows: Dear Dr Ghebreyesus, On behalf of the XXX civil society and community-led organisations listed below, we are writing to urge the World Health Organization to maintain and resource its strong presence, expert capacity, normative guidance and diplomatic voice within the harm reduction, human rights and drug policy spaces, to ensure the continuation of its crucial work in support of harm reduction and people who use drugs, and also through ensuring meaningful involvement of people who use drugs at all levels. The WHO was the first UN agency to fully support and embrace the harm reduction approach through its guidance and policy, and is a global champion of, and leader for, effective policies and programmes that protect the rights and lives of people who use drugs from preventable harms such as HIV, hepatitis C, overdose and drug-related deaths. We recognise that this is a time of unprecedented challenges for the WHO, as it is for health and human rights movements and stakeholders across the globe. However, we urge you to ensure that current funding cuts and other geopolitical pressures are not allowed to weaken the WHO’s role, it’s political will and it’s position as the normative leader for harm reduction and programmes for people who use drugs. The progress and achievements that have been made to date are down to the unparalleled technical expertise, experience and commitment of the Department of Global HIV, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections Programmes, especially their commitment to ensure the meaningful involvement of people who use drugs and other key populations in decision-making processes and co-developing key guidance and policies.[1] In a context where harm reduction and community-led programmes on the ground are being decimated, and where other UN agencies and the Global Fund are facing their own funding crises, the continued leadership and expertise of the WHO in this field is more important now than it has ever been. The dedicated WHO secretariat capacity on harm reduction has directly contributed to the steady increase in countries adopting harm reduction policies and programmes around the world.[2] Losing this capacity, or weakening it through merger with other mandates or departments would be disastrous for our community and would further jeopardise harm reduction services and coverage. Even before the recent pushback and defunding of human rights, health and development agendas, harm reduction was already facing a crisis of funding and political leadership – despite the overwhelming evidence for its effectiveness.[3] People who inject drugs were already 14 times more likely to acquire HIV than the rest of the adult population.[4] The funding for harm reduction in low- and middle-income countries was already just 6% of the estimated annual resource needs. Service delivery was hampered by disinformation and political resistance. Sweeping cuts to foreign aid this year have had an additional, immediate and devastating effect on programmes and those who access them, as well as on the available support for civil society and community-led advocacy, including community networking and empowerment.[5] Now more than ever, we need the World Health Organization to lead, protect and promote harm reduction and champion evidence-based, rights-based policies and programmes for people who use drugs. A weakened WHO role would inevitably translate into setbacks not only for harm reduction, but for the broader fight against infectious diseases. One timely opportunity to demonstrate the WHO leadership in this respect is through the 2025 Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) Resolution 68/6 (“Strengthening the international drug control system: a path to effective implementation”), which has mandated the appointment of a 19-person panel review the implementation of drug policy commitments and “consider what changes may be required in the existing machinery for the international control of narcotic drugs”.[6] As per the resolution, one of the 19 panellists is to be nominated by the Director-General of the WHO, with the other places being filled by the regional groups of member states, the UN Secretary-General and the INCB. This is a paramount opportunity to ensure that the WHO nominee is someone with specific expertise in, and an active champion of, harm reduction and human rights, and particularly someone who has a strong connection and relationship with the community of people who use drugs. As your civil society and community partners and allies, we look forward to continuing to support and collaborate with the WHO, and we urge your immediate consideration and action on the issues above due to the acute nature of our concerns and the potential impacts on people who use drugs around the world. We are here to support the WHO throughout these processes, and you can always rely on us as we bring the unique voices, expertise and lived experiences of people who use drugs at the global, regional and national levels. For further information and any clarification, do not hesitate to contact the International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD: office@inpud.net), Harm Reduction International (HRI: office@hri.global) and/or the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC: contact@idpc.net). Yours faithfully, on behalf of the following organisations...

⚠️ The @who.int cannot sideline harm reduction! Its leadership and expertise on this matter are irreplaceable.

@inpud.bsky.social, @harmreductionintl.bsky.social & @idpc.net invite organisations to sign this urgent appeal by 3 Sept.: 

Today is International Overdose Awareness Day!
The unpredictability of the drug market poses new challenges for harm reduction. Understanding these shifts is crucial to supporting people who use drugs.

📄 Dive into the findings of the #MonitoringHREurope report on new drug trends: buff.ly/3OPltux

Within the CORE Project, Fédération Parapluie Rouge, Médecins du Monde, EATG & ESWA will host a policy dialogue in Paris:

📅 14 Oct 2025 | 🕥 13:30–18:00

The meeting highlights best practices in HIV & STI care, removing barriers, and advocating for inclusion in policy.

📌 Register: buff.ly/jvjdEkL

At the Symposium DCRs 2025 in Strasbourg, C-EHRN contributed twice: Iga Jeziorska co-led a workshop on evaluating DCRs, and Arianna Rogialli shared insights from recent trainings in Ljubljana, Brno & Dublin.

👉 Watch Arianna’s presentation: buff.ly/5UdGcKZ

👉 More on the event: buff.ly/DmVMeKQ

📢 On 29 September 2025, Positive Voice, PRAKSIS & EATG host a policy dialogue in Thessaloniki on access to HIV, hepatitis & STI services for migrants, PWUD and people living with HIV.

Participation is by invitation; contact the organisers if you’re interested.

👉 Read more: buff.ly/3VvHS3L

The war on drugs has failed to bring safety to the people; instead, it has put human rights and health at risk. We need more harm reduction, and less criminalisation. Learn more at www.investinjustice.net

Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams

📢 The UNODC Civil Society Unit and the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs are hosting a webinar on the World Drug Report 2025. Taking place on 04/09, 15:00–16:30 CEST, it will feature presentations from UNODC & civil society perspectives.

👉Register here: events.teams.microsoft.com/event/68f3a3...

🚨 The European Toolkit for the Elimination of Viral Hepatitis in Prisons is here! 🔗 buff.ly/LzyKbBV

A collaboration between @ecdc.europa.eu, EUDA & with contributions from an Advisory Group, including C-EHRN’s @rqrigoni.bsky.social.

🇩🇪 CIMH Mannheim launches the EU’s 1st Compassionate Use Program for psilocybin, offering limited access for adults with treatment-resistant depression under strict care. A milestone for mental health & harm reduction in Germany.

Read more: 🔗 buff.ly/r2lR2Wo

#MentalHealth #HarmReduction

Are you ready to turn your passion for harm reduction, social justice, and inclusive health into hands-on experience with a European NGO? Join our small international team in Amsterdam for at least 2 days/week.

🗓️ Ideal start: October 2025 (flexible)

🔗 Find more details here: buff.ly/Dqgjg7d

C-EHRN Statement on the Elimination of EU4Health Operating Grants for Civil Society Organisations – European Harm Reduction Network On 23 July 2025, more than six months later than expected, the European Commission finally published the EU4Health Work Programme for 2025, with a total budget of €571 million. This significant delay…

On 23 July, the EU announced it would cut operating grants for health civil society organisations within the EU4Health Work Programme, grants that many have relied on for core funding & advocacy work.

We stand in solidarity with those affected. Read the full C-EHRN statement:

📱 This new guidance helps community-based and community-led digital harm reduction services choose platforms, navigate algorithms, and engage meaningfully:
👉 buff.ly/qUdBLaO

#EU4HBOOST #DigitalOutreach #PlatformStrategy #HarmReductionServices

Czech law is evolving on paper, but in Prague, local politics are still blocking harm reduction, according to stakeholders. A growing gap between policy and practice puts key populations at risk.

Read more: 🔗 buff.ly/NMZI2iT

#HarmReduction #DrugPolicy

Eliminating Hepatitis C in Europe: A Report on Policy Implementation for People Who Inject Drugs. Civil Society Monitoring of Harm Reduction in Europe 2024 – European Harm Reduction Network Multiple authors

This #WorldHepatitisDay, let's break it down:

🔬 1.8M people in the EU live with chronic Hepatitis C
💥 Stigma remains high:
• 57.5% face it at GPs
• 50% at clinics & in prisons
🧪 Testing is still limited, often only at harm reduction or treatment centres.

👉 Read our 2024 report: buff.ly/PURz5Zg

@drugreporter.bsky.social @scottishdrugsforum.bsky.social @releasedrugs.bsky.social @fedeaddiction.bsky.social