IDU

Length: 5:33 Every time I hear Corinne Carey talk, I start dreaming of going to law school. Now with the New York Civil Liberties Union, Corinne founded the Harm Reduction Law Project at the , and followed that work with stints at Human Rights Watch and  fighting against the criminalization of people who use drugs. In this interview, Corinne talks about how legal aid services are crucial for ensuring that people who use drugs can benefit from HIV prevention and treatment services, and her work in the USA and overseas to embed lawyers in harm reduction agencies.

The following was originally posted on PHR's Blog AIDS. It's not over, about the Iranian HIV/AIDS Docs I posted about recently here.  

 

The most moving aspect of AIDS 2008 so far for me has been meeting so many of Kamiar and Arash Alaei’s friends and colleagues—all of whom have stories and kind words about the two physicians detained in Iran and are hoping to see the brothers again soon. Today, one of their colleagues, Dr. Adeeba Kamarulzaman, gave an important plenary speech about her work on harm reduction—and in front of thousands of conference participants, made an impassioned plea to the Iranian Government to free Arash and Kamiar. To sustained applause, we walked in front of the plenary carrying signs with photos of the brothers and the URL for the petition to the government of Iran, IranFreeTheDocs.org. We passed out thousands of buttons and stickers, which are now all over the conference.  read more »

My colleagues at PHR have been busy in the press room at the AIDS Conference this year.  On Monday, they released “The Right to Health and Health Workforce Planning: A Guide for Government Officials, NGOs, Health Workers and Development Partners.”   According to the press release, the guide already has its fans.

I  find this document impressive, accessible, and groundbreaking. When one reads the document one can’t but be amazed by the intense and intensive, broad and detailed consultations that have gone into this unique publication. It should be a pocket book to every health professional, a bible to every Minister of Health, a guiding star for every health and human rights expert and novice.

—Maxwell V. Madzikanga, Senior HIV/AIDS Researcher to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health  read more »

Two internationally respected Iranian physicians, Drs. Arash Alaei and Kamiar Alaei, were arrested at the end of June by Iranian authorities and appear to be held in incommunicado detention. The doctors are experts on HIV/AIDS and have worked for many years on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment activities in Iran and internationally.  Their whereabouts remain unknown. 

In partnership with international organizations, PHR has created a petition calling for the Iranian government to release or formally charge the brothers.  Dr. Arash Alaei was scheduled to present about his work on treatment and prevention for injecting drug users at the AIDS Conference next week, and IAS has called for their release.  We urge all conference participants to sign the above petition to show the world's concern for Arash and Kamiar's human rights, so please act today.   read more »

We've got the August 2008 special issue of AIDS which will be released at the IAC. The theme of this special issue is LEAP: Leadership, Equity, Accountability, and Partnerships to provide concrete recommendations for implementing the Ford Foundation's Global HIV/AIDS Initiative. We applaud the journal, the Ford Foundation and the authors for their emphasis on social justice.

Click the article title to jump to the abstract and PDF.

» Creating a world that survives, and thrives, with AIDS
» Moving beyond the alphabet soup of HIV prevention
» The next 5 years of global HIV/AIDS policy: critical gaps and strategies for effective responses
» Leadership development and HIV/AIDS
» Wealth, health, HIV and the economics of hope
» Gender and AIDS: time to act
» Stigma in the HIV/AIDS epidemic: a review of the literature and recommendations for the way forward
» The role of harm reduction in controlling HIV among injecting drug users
» Refocusing and prioritizing HIV programmes in conflict and post-conflict settings: funding recommendations
» Accountability in the global response to HIV: measuring progress, driving change
» Health and human rights in today's fight against HIV/AIDS

 read more »