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International Journal of Drug Policy 9 (1998) 401 – 409

Harm reduction in action: putting theory into practice

Gerry V. Stimson
The Centre for Research on Drugs and Health Beha6iour, Department of Social Science and Medicine,
Imperial College School of Medicine, 200 Seagra6e Road, London SW6 1RQ, UK

Received 1 March 1998; accepted 5 May 1998

Abstract

Harm reduction interventions have been introduced in a large and growing number of countries. Fundamental
components of harm reduction programmes are the need to raise ‘awareness’, to ‘contact’ people, to provide them
with the ‘means’ to change their behaviour, and to gain ‘endorsement’ for this work. The UK provides a case study
of public health harm reduction measures which to date appear to have successfully averted an epidemic of HIV
infection. In broad terms, the basic techniques for harm reduction projects and programmes are now known, and
there is substantial research and practical evidence to indicate their successful implementation and impact. The global
public health challenge in the next decade of harm reduction is therefore to find ways to implement harm reduction.
Many elements of good public health practice are found in harm reduction. Harm reduction can learn from public
health, and public health can learn from harm reduction. © 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Harm reduction— from faith to science Harm reduction has come a long way in the last
10 years. Progress in the UK provides an apt
This paper started life as an opening talk at the metaphor. In the UK, the first syringe exchange in
International Conference on the Reduction of Liverpool in 1986 was in the Mersey Region Drug
Drug Related Harm in Paris in 1997. That confer- Training and Information Centre. It was located
ence marked nearly 10 years of harm reduction. It in a small toilet cubicle, the only spare space
was therefore a good opportunity to reflect on within the agency. In those days, harm reduction
developments, to assess what has been achieved, was very much an ‘act of faith’. Since then harm
and for participants to be rather self-congratula- reduction has—to risk a cliche—‘come out of the
tory. That congratulation is justified, because, de- closet’. Harm reduction projects have been imple-
spite all the challenges facing harm reduction, and mented in many places in Europe, Australasia,
the times when no progress seems to be made, it is South East Asia, the Newly Independent States,
important to recognise that there have been some and in North and South America. There is grow-
notable practical successes in reducing drug-re- ing evidence that they have had a significant
lated harm. impact on the health of drug users.

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402 G.V. Stimson / International Journal of Drug Policy 9 (1998) 401–409

In this paper I will first note what I see as the For example, techniques for raising ‘awareness’
key components of harm reduction. I will then about health risks include individually targeted
take a case study of successful harm reduction methods such as mass and local media campaigns
with respect to HIV and drug injecting. Finally I or counselling, or through community and subcul-
will try to draw out some themes about public turally targeted strategies for facilitating changes
health and harm reduction in the future. in social norms such as outreach and peer
education.
Harm reduction has been typified by innovative
methods for ‘contacting’ populations, by having
2. Key components of harm reduction
appropriate, attractive and accessible services, by
using outreach to the hard-to-reach, and facilitat-
There is a wealth of theorising and model build-
ing the passing of health promotion information
ing about the nature and practice of harm reduc-
through social networks. In many treatment mod-
tion, despite the fact that it was — and continues
els, failure to complete treatment entails being
to be—a grass roots and bottom-up social move-
dismissed from the programme. Harm reduction
ment. Different writers have tried to set out the
emphasises the need to retain contact with people
basic principles of harm reduction. In my modest
and to offer them ongoing help, services and
contribution here, I am trying to keep things
advice in anticipation that they will eventually
simple. I have reduced harm reduction to four key
change their behaviour. In harm reduction, ejec-
components which I think are its essence in prac-
tion of unsuccessful clients would be a failure of
tice. I think that most harm reduction pro-
the programme rather than the client.
grammes and projects comprise these four
Those promoting harm reduction suggest the
components, although the way they are combined
importance of providing drug users with the
and the prominence given to each will vary from
‘means’ to change their behaviour, through the
project to project, and over time. (An overview of
provision of sterile injecting equipment or the
types of harm reduction interventions can be
means to de-contaminate this, such as bleach; and
found in Rhodes and Hartnoll, 1996; Ball, 19981).
condoms for safer sex. Treatment and help for
The four key components can be remembered
drug problems is also a means for behaviour
by the word ACME (Fig. 1) — the need to raise
change. Appropriate drug treatment and mainte-
awareness, to make contact with populations, to
nance programmes facilitate contact with drug
provide the means for people to change their
users and help them change their drug use. The
behaviour, and to get endorsement for harm re-
most common approach has been methadone
duction measures. There are numerous ways in
maintenance. Maintenance programmes using
which these components have been delivered in
other substitute drugs (e.g. buprenorphine) have
practice, i.e. the specific techniques that have been
also been tried.
used.
And finally projects include ways of gaining
endorsement for harm reduction activities. This
includes creating alliances between target popula-
tions, local communities, social activists, social
scientists, and government. A major activity for
many projects is gaining support for harm reduc-
tion activities from the local community, other
Fig. 1. Harm reduction—intervention components.
health workers, and government.
There is an accumulation of international evi-
1
dence about the importance, feasibility and effec-
As conventional in the ‘International Journal of Drug
Policy’, references have been kept to a minimum. Apologies to
tiveness of different techniques for reducing drug
the many people who have influenced me and upon whose related harms. Much of that evidence comes from
work I have drawn. projects designed to reduce the risks of HIV trans-
G.V. Stimson / International Journal of Drug Policy 9 (1998) 401–409 403

mission. Looking back over the 10 years it is


extraordinary how much we now know about
techniques to prevent problems connected with
drug use. Harm reduction techniques work not
only in developed countries, but also in coun-
tries with very different economic and social
conditions—harm reduction activities have been
implemented, for example, in Nepal,
Bangladesh, Thailand, Manipur, and in Central
and Eastern Europe. Evidence for success has
come from practical experience of people run-
ning projects, from the accumulating interna-
tional scientific evidence about the effectiveness
Fig. 2. Task of comparative HIV policy analysis.
of different interventions, from comparative in-
ternational studies, and from individual case
from a wide number of sources about national
studies (see for example overviews in Stimson et
policies, the kinds of projects that were devel-
al., 1998). An earlier International Conference
oped, risk behaviours, and the direction that the
on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm led to
epidemic has taken over time. It takes some
a book called ‘Harm Reduction: from Faith to
imagination—because if we argue that the
Science’. Harm reduction in the last 10 years
course of an epidemic has been altered by the
has now moved from faith to science. intervention, we have to argue what might have
happened without the intervention. This we can-
not know—but we can imagine what could
3. A UK case study— evidence for successful have happened by looking at the histories of
prevention of HIV infection epidemics elsewhere. The question is: would
things have turned out differently, but for the
There are a number of case studies which policies and interventions? (The problem is akin
could be selected to show governments and pol- the Max Weber’s attempt to argue the link be-
icy makers that harm reduction is not only a tween the rise of protestantism and the develop-
philosophical and practical approach to drug ment of capitalism.) The analytic task is aided
problems, but that it can deliver the goods. by comparisons between countries and cities
There is now evidence for successful HIV pre- with different polices, practices, risk behaviours
vention in many countries — as has been demon- and epidemic histories. We may be therefore be
strated by the WHO Multi-City Study on Drug able to learn as much from comparative na-
Injecting and HIV Infection (Stimson et al., tional and city analyses as from the more fo-
1998) and many other studies. cused evaluation of specific interventions. This
One of the problems facing harm reduction level of analysis also helps us to begin to under-
has been that it is difficult on grounds of ethics, stand the circumstances under which harm re-
costs and time to subject it to tough scientific duction projects may be successfully
scrutiny using, for example, randomised con- implemented.
trolled trials. Country and city-wide case studies The UK provides a useful case study that can
are therefore important, because they may help contribute to this comparative analysis—with
us understand the interaction between national strong evidence that HIV infection among injec-
and local policies, the interventions that are de- tors has been averted through public health risk
veloped, how these interventions influence risk reduction measures. It will be for others to as-
behaviours, and in turn the history of epidemics sess whether a case has been made that what
(Fig. 2). The task is difficult, but not insupera- was done in the UK helped avoid a major epi-
ble. It requires piecing together information demic of HIV infection among IDUs.
404 G.V. Stimson / International Journal of Drug Policy 9 (1998) 401–409

3.1. Conditions for epidemic take-off 1984. By that year HIV was present in a small
number of injectors in all health regions in Eng-
Let’s look at the evidence for the claim that the land, and Wales and Scotland. By 1985, the HIV
UK has averted an HIV epidemic. First, it is prevalence rate in Edinburgh was 50%.
necessary to speculate what might have happened It would appear reasonable to assume that—
in the UK—could a major epidemic of HIV given the existence of these conditions—HIV
infection have occurred among drug injectors? We could have spread among drug injectors through-
have to look at the critical period when HIV first out the UK. One scenario would have been the
appeared. In my view three conditions for HIV repetition of the Edinburgh HIV outbreak in
epidemic take-off existed in the UK between 1982 other cities. That such rapid epidemic spread has
and 1986 (Fig. 3). occurred in many parts of the world lends cre-
First, there was a substantial population of dence to this view.
injectors. By the 1980s, in common with other 3.2. Epidemic history
European countries, injecting had spread to most
major cities and to many sectors of the popula- What has been the history of the epidemic since
tion. In the early 1980s, diffusion of injecting was then? The overwhelming evidence is that our in-
especially apparent in deprived inner-city jectors have not experienced a major problem
populations. with AIDS and HIV infection. The cumulative
Second, there was the potential for transmission number of injecting-related AIDS cases is 520,
of HIV infection. Sharing needles and syringes with a further 283 in Scotland. AIDS incidence is
was the norm. There was considerable mobility about 100 cases a year. Recent statistical mod-
and mixing, with multiple sharing partners. Many elling suggests that there are 2770 people currently
cities, and especially London, attracted injectors living with HIV infection associated with injecting
drug use (2100 in England and Wales and 670 in
from elsewhere in the UK and from Europe.
Scotland). Hickman et al. (1997) estimate that
Indeed one of the first deaths from AIDS was of
there are about 130 (CI 40–240) new HIV infec-
an Italian drug user who died in Hammersmith
tions among injectors in England and Wales each
Hospital in London in 1985. Unprotected sexual
year—about 100 of these in London, that is,
intercourse was the norm.
about two new infections occurring each week.
The third condition was the presence of HIV.
We do not have good estimates of how many
In Scotland HIV appeared in Edinburgh injectors
injectors there are in the UK: but if we assume
late 1982 or early 1983, with the first documented
conservatively that in London there might be
sero-conversion in January 1983. The first AIDS
around 50000 and around 100000 further in Eng-
case in an injector was in the South of England in land and Wales, then the estimated annual inci-
dence rate would be in the order of 0.02 per 100
person years or less.
Recent modelling of trends in HIV incidence,
back-calculating from AIDS data, suggests a peak
of new injecting-related HIV infections in Lon-
don, and in England and Wales outside London,
between 1984 and 1986, with a substantial decline
thereafter (Fig. 4). The point at which the decline
occurs is important in terms of epidemic preven-
tion—it seems to be coincident with the introduc-
tion of HIV prevention measures. The earlier
peaking in 1984 in London could indicate early
Fig. 3. Three take-off conditions for an HIV epidemic in the saturation of higher risk groups, or early risk
UK— 1980s. behaviour changes by injectors.
G.V. Stimson / International Journal of Drug Policy 9 (1998) 401–409 405

Fig. 4. Estimated annual incidence of HIV infections in England and Wales.

Finally we have the evidence from HIV preva- 2000 outlets. About 25–30 million syringes are
lence surveys. Overall, in England outside of Lon- distributed each year (Parsons and Turnbull, per-
don, the prevalence of HIV infection is around sonal communication). There is at least one
1% or less among injectors tested by the Public scheme in every health district. In addition there
Health Laboratory Service in a large number of are pharmacy sales of syringes and needles. Most
drug agencies. This figure is consistent over time injectors obtain their syringes from pharmacies
and across health regions. Our studies in London and syringe exchange schemes: in London about
show a decline in prevalence rate from 13% in 75% of injectors obtain their syringes this way.
1990 to 7% by 1993. Lower rates are found in Very few get second-hand syringes from other
other studies in London (for an overview, see injectors. Sharing when it does occur is discrimi-
Stimson et al., 1998). Overall we conclude that the natory; injectors who share do so mostly with
prevalence rate in London amongst chronic long- sexual partners and close friends: sharing with
term injectors is around 7% or less — and lower in strangers is rare. There is a low rate of partner
younger injectors. In 1996, Gillian Hunter in our mixing—in a recent study we conducted across
group found a prevalence rate of only 1% in a Central and Southern England the mean number
sample of female injectors in London. In Scot- of sharing partners for the total sample in the last
land, studies in Glasgow have never found a month was just over 1.
prevalence rate above 2%. Prevalence rates in Data indicate that before 1987 syringe sharing
Edinburgh have now declined to 20% or less (for was relatively high, that it declined between 1987
reviews see Stimson, 1995; Unlinked Anonymous and 1990 coincident with the introduction of pre-
Surveys Steering Group, 1996; Stimson and ventive interventions, and that thereafter it has
Hunter, 1998). remained relatively low and stable (Stimson and
I would now like to turn to risk behaviour. We Hunter, 1996). We have, however, to be cautious
are currently undertaking a UK survey of syringe about the interpretation of risk behaviour data.
exchange, and currently estimate that there are Some studies and routine information systems
about 450 syringe exchange and pharmacy ex- have asked fairly crude questions about syringe
change schemes in the UK, with a total of over sharing. More recent work asking more detailed
406 G.V. Stimson / International Journal of Drug Policy 9 (1998) 401–409

questions, and investigating a range of sharing ventions appear to have helped us avoid the ma-
practices (both direct sharing of needles and sy- jor spread of HIV infection that has been
ringes and indirect sharing of injecting parapher- observed in many cities and countries throughout
nalia), is getting higher reports of sharing. We do the world.
not know whether this suggests an increase in risk
behaviour, or that it was not measured well in the
4.1. What helped make the UK response possible?
past by ourselves and others. Nevertheless, the
number of sharing partners is low — indicating
People working in harm reduction in the UK
low opportunity for transmission. In low preva-
had it fairly easy in the first few years—at least in
lence situations, the rate of partner mixing may be
comparison with their colleagues in many other
more important than the frequency of sharing.
countries. Harm reduction gained ready accep-
A word of warning is in order: HCV prevalence
tance at many levels in British society. There were
rates are high, as they are in some other countries
no major political or community objections, and
which like the UK have low HIV rates (e.g.
no major legal obstacles. My colleagues in the
Australia). On the face of it this might argue
UK might disagree—but, for example, people
against the hypothesis that HIV has been pre-
distributing needles and syringes have not been
vented by behaviour change. However, the expla-
arrested, as they have in the USA. That harm
nation may possibly be found in the different
reductionists have had it easy is indicated in the
epidemic history of HCV in relation to behaviour
fact that there is no national harm reduction
change (it is possible that the prevalence of HCV
association or formal network, and that harm
was high before the introduction of risk reduc-
reduction conferences and meetings are rare. This
tion); the higher infectiousness of people with
is not to suggest that there were not battles to be
HCV; and the higher viral transmissibility of
fought at a national or local level—rather that it
HCV compared with HIV. Urgent work needs to
has not been as hard in the UK as in other places.
be conducted to answer these questions.
(There are now indications that the situation is
We have not observed major changes with re-
changing—but that has to be the topic of another
gard to sexual behaviour: condom use is low with
paper.)
regular partners, higher with casual partners and
What facilitated the harm reduction response in
highest for injectors who are commercial sex
the UK was, firstly, a ‘supportive IDU/AIDS
workers with respect of paying partners. Tim
policy’ (Fig. 5). The key policy document, pro-
Rhodes and Alan Quirk have pointed out that
duced by the AIDS and Drug Misuse Working
whilst there is a norm of not sharing injecting
Group of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of
equipment, there is still a norm of unprotected
Drugs, formulated the problem in the following
sex. However, although condom use is low, it is
terms: there was—in the mid-1980s—a substan-
high in comparison with injectors in many devel-
tial number of current injectors who were unable
oping countries.

4. Historical conditions for HIV prevention in the


UK

I am arguing here (and have done so in more


detail elsewhere) that there is a plausible link
between HIV and drugs policy, the HIV preven-
tion interventions which were introduced, the re-
duction in risk behaviour and the lack of major
spread of HIV infection among people who inject
drugs (Stimson, 1995, 1996). Public health inter- Fig. 5. Features of successful intervention in the UK.
G.V. Stimson / International Journal of Drug Policy 9 (1998) 401–409 407

or unwilling to stop injecting; they might eventu- Politicians indeed were well aware of the out-
ally wish to stop injecting, but in the meantime breaks of HIV infection among injectors in Edin-
they provided a large population in which HIV burgh, in many other European cities and in
infection could spread; the public health priority North America. Injectors were seen as a bridge
was therefore to contact that population, and help for HIV infection into the general population.
them reduce their risk of HIV infection. This was the climate in which potentially unac-
The report prioritised HIV over drug prob- ceptable approaches to dealing with drugs could
lems —HIV was seen as a greater threat to public emerge. Syringe exchange became acceptable. (In
and individual health than drug misuse. The re- this brief history I do not wish to deny that there
port argued for the need to work with continuing were considerable difficulties and uncertainties
injectors—implicitly this was harm reduction — about these approaches in government.)
although this term does not figure in the report. AIDS prevention became a ‘social movement
Policy does not come from thin air: the report —an example of ‘single-issue’ politics that devel-
of the Advisory Council helped to coalesce ideas oped in the 1980s and early 1990s—in a context
and practices which had been developed by oth- of the disruption of, and decline in, party political
ers. The first syringe exchange was in Peterbor- activism at a local level, as a result of the Conser-
ough, and the first pharmacy exchange at Boots vative government’s attack on trade unions and
the Chemists in Sheffield. In Liverpool — which local government. A feature of successful public
led the rest of the country — the ideas for HIV health interventions is that they become public
prevention came directly out of public health issues around which a social movement is devel-
thinking through the work and influence of John
oped—but that is the subject of another debate.
Ashton and Howard Seymour. By 1987, there was
Other features were ‘financial resources’—it
enormous interest in HIV prevention at a grass
goes without saying that this is a requirement,
roots level in drugs agencies throughout the UK.
and ‘infrastructures’ —the rapidity of the response
By the time the ACMD report was published in
was facilitated by having a structure of commu-
1988, risk reduction was already common in drug
nity level drug and information agencies in most
agencies. There was a growing development of
cities. These agencies were staffed by nurses and
syringe distribution and exchange, an expansion
of methadone treatment, and of outreach to less social workers, and there was little medical domi-
accessible populations. nance. These workers avidly grasped HIV as a
There was also a ‘supportive context and dis- key issue.
course’ at the policy and political level. By 1985 Others have argued that successful HIV preven-
AIDS policy was handled as a liberal consensual tion requires an alliance with drug injectors, to
issue. By 1986 the UK entered what Virginia give them a voice. However, the UK at that time
Berridge called a period of ‘war time emergency’ did not have significant drug user groups, and
(Berridge, 1996). AIDS was officially a high-level drug injectors were not drawn formally into the
national issue. It was feared that the UK faced an policy-making and intervention development.
HIV epidemic in all sectors of society. This was a However, in my view the community level agen-
historical moment, which facilitated co-operation cies fulfilled the function of user groups—by act-
and policy consensus and helped weaken the po- ing as advocates for their clients.
tential influence of populist fears. Some newspa- The next feature was that a ‘discourse on harm
pers tried to stigmatise people with HIV infection reduction’ was not uncommon in the response to
and AIDS, but this did not dominate. The gov- drugs problems in the UK. Many people who
ernment embarked on a campaign to persuade attend the International Conference on the Re-
and educate. Virginia Berridge has argued that duction of Drug Related Harm know that ideas
AIDS revived a ‘welfare state ethos’ which else- about reducing harm in the UK can be traced
where was on the way out in Britain in the 1980s. from the 1920s, with the prescribing of narcotic
An alliance developed between civil servants, pub- drugs to opiate addicts. This practice was legit-
lic health medicine, AIDS activists and politicians. imised in the report from Lord Rolleston, whose
408 G.V. Stimson / International Journal of Drug Policy 9 (1998) 401–409

name has been taken by the conference — in the


form of the ‘Rolleston Award’ — to express the
ideals of harm reduction. It would be naı̈ve to
suggest that there has been a single, continuous
view on drug problems in the UK, or that harm
reduction has dominated. However, the possibility Fig. 6. Harm reduction — the next decade.
has been there to talk about drugs and respond to
them in this way. local circumstances, but in broad terms, I think
Two other things were important. First, that we that we know what works (Fig. 6). The issue
did not put all the effort into one type of interven- ahead is not so much knowing what to do, but of
tion. Some are more important than others — es- persuading others what needs to be done. In the
pecially access to syringes — but it is equally next decade of harm reduction, the task of per-
significant that single solutions were not pur- suading others that action is needed will be helped
sued —there was a beneficial ‘complementary and by the growing evidence for success.
synergism’ between interventions (which, again, Case studies of national responses, of the sort I
makes analysis of impact at a national level as have presented here raise some very difficult issues
important as the impact of specific interventions). regarding the successful implementation of harm
And finally, what is extremely important is that reduction in other places. Were the circumstances
the interventions occurred ‘early’ in the epidemic. in the UK fortuitous—in that harm reduction
It may be that the UK was fortunate. With the fitted into the mood of the time? Did the UK
evidence for rapid spread of HIV infection in response occur in a particular set of historical
many communities around the world, early inter- circumstances? These questions are important,
vention must mean having preventive activities in both for the future of harm reduction in the UK
place as soon as is possible, i.e. wherever there are and other countries with harm reduction, and for
people who are injecting drugs. its introduction elsewhere.
This suggests to me that our task is then not
only of knowing which harm reduction techniques
5. Harm reduction in the next decade: from faith to use, but what determines whether they will be
to science to action acceptable and will work. In looking in a compar-
ative way at different national responses we can
Finally, let us turn away from this case study to potentially understand the conditions which have
broader issues in the future of harm reduction. to be created to make harm reduction acceptable
What are the prospects as we enter the second and successful.
decade of harm reduction? The national level of analysis also raises some
Drug injecting and HIV infection continue to difficult issues for intervention research. Most
be global issues. The number of countries report- methods are designed to assess the impact of
ing drug injection is now 121, and the number specific interventions. Little work has been con-
reporting injecting related HIV infection is now ducted on assessing the impact of policies and the
82 (Adelekan and Stimson, 1997). In the next whole package of interventions that might—or
decade particularly vulnerable areas will be parts might not—be available. We need to develop
of China, India, countries in South East Asia methods that are suitable for international com-
which have largely avoided these problems to parative studies to address the questions raised
date, sub-Saharan Africa, parts of South America, here about whether policies and interventions
and central and eastern Europe. have an impact on the overall course of an epi-
Evaluations of specific harm reduction interven- demic within a country.
tions help us to understand what works in HIV Finally, harm reduction was born in a crisis.
prevention. There is always more work to do on The time is now right to move from crisis to
fine-tuning interventions and in adapting them to mainstreaming harm reduction within public
G.V. Stimson / International Journal of Drug Policy 9 (1998) 401–409 409

health. These points are well made by Andrew menting harm reduction for HIV and injecting drug use in
high risk sub-Saharan African countries. Journal of Drug
Ball (Ball, 1998) who elegantly shows how harm
Issues 1997;27(1):97 – 116.
reduction follows the basic tenets for public Ball AL. Overview: policies and interventions to stem HIV-1
health and health promotion as set out in the epidemics associated with injecting drug use. In: Stimson
‘Declaration of Alma-Ata on Primary Health GV, Des Jarlais D, Ball AL, editors. Drug Injecting and
Care’, the ‘Global Strategy for Health for All by HIV Infection: Global Dimensions and Local Responses.
London: University College London Press, 1998.
the Year 2000’, and ‘The Ottawa Charter on
Berridge V. AIDS in the UK: The Making of Policy, 1981 –
Health Promotion’. Drug use should not be han- 1994. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
dled as a unique issue, but as one of the many Hickman M, Bardsley M, De Angelis D, Ward H, Carrier J. A
harms in a population that can be reduced by Sexual Health Ready Reckoner — Summary indicators of
public health interventions. Indeed harm reduc- sexual behaviour and HIV in London and South East
England Discussion paper September 1997. London: The
tion for drugs can be held up as ‘model’ for public
Health of Londoners Project, East London and The City
health more generally. Many elements of good Health Authority, 1997.
public health practice, as set out in these WHO Stimson GV, Hunter GM. Interventions with drug injectors in
documents—such as building healthy public pol- the UK: trends in risk behaviour and HIV prevalence.
icy, creating supportive environments, strengthen- International Journal of STD and AIDS 1996;7(Suppl
2):52 – 6.
ing community action, developing personal skills,
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health, and public health can learn from harm Stimson GV. AIDS and injecting drug use in the United
reduction. Kingdom, 1988 – 1993; the policy response and the preven-
tion of the epidemic. Social Science and Medicine
1995;41(5):699– 716.
Stimson GV. Has the United Kingdom averted an epidemic of
Acknowledgements HIV infection among drug injectors? Editorial Addiction
1996;91(8):1085– 8.
I am grateful for critical comments from Gill Stimson GV, Des Jarlais D, Ball AL. The foreword. In:
Stimson GV, Des Jarlais D, Ball AL, editors. Drug Inject-
Hunter, Matt Hickman, Jim Parsons and Paul ing and HIV Infection: Global Dimensions and Local
Turnbull. The Centre for Research on Drugs and Responses. London: University College London Press,
Health Behaviour is core-funded by the North 1998.
Thames Regional Office of the NHS Executive. Stimson GV, Hunter GM. Public health indicators. In: Stim-
son GV, Fitch C, Judd A, editors. Drug Use in London.
London: Centre for Research on Drugs and Health Be-
haviour, 1998.
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