Brasília, 14 July 2022 – From 27 to 30 June, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Brazil, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) Campus Baixada Santistas held the National Meeting on HIV Combined Prevention and care for women who use drugs. The event was held in Santos (SP) and brought together representatives from public management, academia, and civil society, as well as international organizations and the public.
The goal of the three-day meeting was to develop a comprehensive set of recommendations aimed at addressing the barriers that women who use alcohol and other drugs face in accessing prevention, diagnosis, and treatment regarding HIV.
"In a country as large as Brazil, we must be attentive to women who face intersections of vulnerabilities so that they are not left behind. Among them, women who use alcohol and other drugs, so that they can have broad access to services and support appropriate to their needs and be included in HIV-related decision-making," explained UNODC's social protection supervisor in Brazil.
The meeting is aligned with the new HIV and AIDS Policy Statement: Ending Inequalities and Getting on Track to End AIDS by 2030 and the Global AIDS Strategy 2021 - 2026, which aims to break down barriers to achieving HIV outcomes, with a focus on community-led responses, human rights, gender equality and youth. Among the targets of the Strategy is to ensure that 95% of women have access to sexual and reproductive health services by 2026.
Watch the video of the National Meeting on Combined HIV Prevention and Lines of Care for Women Who Use Drugs.
According to the Deputy Secretary of Penitentiary Care and Humanization of SEAP-MA, Kelly Cristina Carvalho, "it is extremely important to hold discussions like this, between the present states and DEPEN, because they contribute to the development of a standard of performance for the whole country, so that, in fact, we can move forward in our mission in the penitentiary system."
On the occasion, the representatives of UNODC, of the Prison Systems of the Federal District, of the states and DEPEN visited the Penitentiary Complex of São Luís, including the factories, schools and laundry facilities.
This was the first activity carried out under the project "Organized Crime in Prisons and Drug Trafficking in a Regional Perspective", which aims to support the adoption of innovative practices to improve prison management through an interagency approach in line with international minimum standards in Paraguay and Brazil, focusing on the challenges created by organized crime in prisons, as well as to promote cooperation to respond to drug trafficking in the Amazon region, between Brazil, Peru, and Colombia.
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