The objectives for Harm Reduction 2010 including the event itself, the months leading up to it, and the period after the conference are as follows:

1. To enable the exchange of knowledge about new scientific research and evidence on psychoactive drug use (including alcohol and tobacco), drug-related harms, and the effectiveness of harm reduction interventions, including prevention and treatment of communicable diseases (eg HIV, hepatitis, TB) related to drug use.
2. To involve a broad range of participants from Europe and beyond, including government officials, front-line workers, HIV/AIDS and drug user advocates, people working in criminal justice, human rights advocates, law enforcement personnel, researchers and scientists.
3. To enhance advocacy in Europe and internationally for harm reduction and public health approaches to reducing drug-related harms.
4. To enable the transfer of harm reduction knowledge and the sharing of best practices between the EU and Eastern Europe and North-South including future challenges and directions.
5. To increase the capacity of participants to introduce, implement and improve harm reduction interventions in their home regions and countries in Europe and elsewhere.
6. To raise awareness of human rights issues related to psychoactive drug use and harm reduction, and to promote ways to reduce the stigmatisation of people who use drugs and protect them from human rights abuses and discrimination.

The conference organisers pay particular attention to the inclusion of core groups of stakeholders (such as representatives of drug users, of young people movements, of sex workers and of people living with HIV/AIDS) in every aspect of the conference development.




The overarching goal of the conference is – to increase capacity for development and implementation of effective addiction prevention strategies in relation with HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support throughout EU and Candidate Countries by scaling up clinical, public health and social sciences research and best practice.

To achieve this goal, the general objectives can be formulated as follows:
O1. To share and disseminate the best practices in preventing drug-related blood-borne infectious diseases, in particular HIV and hepatitis (B/C), among injecting drug users and HIV infection resulting from high risk sexual behaviour among both injecting and non-injecting drug users.
O2. To share and disseminate best and emerging practices for providing care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and vulnerable groups (with particular emphasis on IDUs, incarcerated and released prisoners).
O3. To scale up and disseminate the clinical, public health and social sciences research related with addiction and drug-related blood-borne infectious diseases.
O4. To address how to enhance the development and implementation of addiction and drug-related infectious disease prevention in Europe, formulating recommendations, guidelines and initiatives for strengthening this capacity.
O5. To mobilize comprehensive and broader civil society (youth organizations, NGOs, PLHWA) and community actions in order to fight stigma and discrimination as key approach in HIV/AIDS prevention and care.
O6. To enhance skills and knowledge of addiction and HIV/AIDS prevention professionals in counselling, primary, secondary prevention, and early intervention strategy implementation.

