Malawi-based Harm Reduction Activist, Chimwemwe Ngoma, has disclosed that safer nicotine products (SNPs) have a positive impact on reducing smoking-related disease and mortality across the globe.
Ngoma was speaking in Nairobi, Kenya, where dozens of Harm Reduction experts, activists and journalists convened for the 4th Harm Reduction Exchange – an annual conference where delegates and participants discuss ways of reducing the negative consequences of drug and tobacco use.
Ngoma’s sentiments are in reaction to revelations by the 2024 Global State of Harm Reduction Report, which laments that the stigmatisation and criminalisation of people who use drugs continues to stand in the way of mainstreaming the utilisation of Harm Reduction services in most African countries.
According to the report, these factors impede access to existing Harm Reduction services and undermine the political and financial support needed to implement and expand these services.
‘…108 countries include Harm Reduction in their national policies. However, criminalisation and punitive responses to drugs remain dominant in most places. These approaches undermine Harm Reduction efforts and continue to fuel stigma and discrimination and deter people who use drugs from seeking vital, life-saving services. This key contradiction must be addressed for meaningful progress to be made,’ reads the report in part.
According to the report, Harm Reduction services such as SNPs and OATs are cost-effective and cost-saving public health interventions as they improve public health outcomes and contribute to reducing the negative social and economic impacts associated with drug use.
‘Despite this, Harm Reduction is seriously underfunded in most regions. Harm Reduction programmes accounted for only 0.7% of total HIV funding in 2022, despite 8% of new HIV infections occurring among people who inject drugs. The number of international Harm Reduction donors remains small, leaving Harm Reduction vulnerable to their shifting priorities. Domestic funding for Harm Reduction is even more fragile, and a lack of data prevents civil society from being able to monitor levels and hold governments accountable,’ says the report.
These revelations have prompted Ngoma to ask governments to seriously consider making greater investments in Harm Reduction interventions. “Evidence suggests that SNPs have a positive impact on reducing smoking-related mortality. A good example is Sweden where the rate of lung cancer cases amongst Swedish men in 2022 was less than half the European average,” he said.
However, journalists attending the conference lamented the unavailability of concrete data on drug-use in most African countries, saying this limits their reporting on Harm Reduction matters.
This year’s conference was held under the theme: “Enabling Innovation in Harm Reduction Through Science-led Regulation and Policymaking”.
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