"Some of the problems with our current drug policies stem from the fact that these policies have been largely bifurcated between two different and often contradictory approaches. One treats drug use
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as a crime that cannot be tolerated and should be punished; the other views addiction as a chronic relapsing health or behavioral condition requiring ongoing treatment and support. Neither of these views is all encompassing—it should be recognized that there are patterns of drug use that do not result in significant harm or health problems and therefore require no intervention. The public health approach presented here takes the view that our focus should be on the harm caused by drug use and the harm caused by our policy responses to it. We have focused specifically on illicit drugs, not because they are by themselves more harmful (in fact, tobacco causes more morbidity and mortality than any illicit drug), but because it has become increasingly clear that our current policies to manage illicit drugs are failing."
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World Drug Report 2017
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Accessed: 14.03.2019
These policy guidelines provide a strategic approach and new recommendations for integrated TB and HIV services for patients suffering from substance-abuse addiction. The key recommendations fall under three main categories: joint planning, key interventions, and overcoming barriers.
This document is based on currently available scientific evidence on treatment for drug use disorders and sets out a framework for the implementation of the Standards, in line with principles of public health care. The Standards identify major compo
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nents and features of effective systems for the treatment of drug use disorders. They describe treatment modalities and interventions to match the needs of people at different stages and severities of drug use disorders, in a manner consistent with the treatment of any chronic disease or health condition. The Standards are aspirational, and such, national or local treatment services or systems need not attempt to meet all the standards and recommendations made in this document all at once. However over time, progressive quality improvement, with ‘evidence-based and ethical practice’ as an objective, can and should be expected to achieve better organized, more effective and ethical systems and services for people with drug use disorders.
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The power of the Global Drug Policy Index lies in its key objective: to score and
rank how countries are faring in different areas of drug policy as identified in the
UN report ‘What we have lea
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rned over the last ten years: A summary of knowledge
acquired and produced by the UN system on drug-related matters’,1 and derived
from the landmark UN System Common Position on Drug
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CHAPTER 206 | An Act to establish a national drug policy and a national drug authority to ensure the availability, at all times, of essential, efficacious and cost-effective drugs to the entire popu
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lation of Uganda, as a means of providing satisfactory health care and safeguarding the appropriate use of drugs.
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The HIV drug resistance report 2021 summarizes findings from 38 countries that had finalized the surveys by the time of this report and shared data with WHO.
Pretreatment HIVDR to non-nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI) can affect
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more than 10% of adults starting therapy and is found up to 3 times more often in people who had previous exposure to antiretroviral drugs. In addition, nearly half of infants newly diagnosed with HIV has HIVDR to NNRTI before initiating treatment.The high levels of observed NNRTI pretreatment HIVDR among emphasize the need to fast-track the transition to WHO-recommended dolutegravir-based ART.
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WHO recommends that pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) be offered as an additional prevention choice for HIV-negative individuals at substantial risk of HIV infection as part of combination prevention approaches.
HIV drug resistance has been rarely
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reported among PrEP users who tested HIV positive in randomized controlled trials or open-label studies. However, PrEP-selected HIV drug resistance could potentially negatively impact the effectiveness of treatment options among PrEP users who acquire HIV, since there is a potential for overlapping resistance profiles between antiretroviral drugs used for both PrEP and first-line antiretroviral therapy.
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Antimalarial drug resistance has emerged as a threat to global malaria control efforts, particularly in the Greater Mekong subregion. Drawing on data collected through more than 1000 therapeutic efficacy studies as well as molecular marker studies o
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f Plasmodium falciparum drug resistance, the Report on antimalarial drug efficacy, resistance and response: 10 years of surveillance (2010–2019) presents a decade’s worth of data on drug efficacy and surveillance, as well as recommendations to monitor and protect the efficacy of malaria treatment in the decades to come.
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