FEANTSA Declaration to promote Harm Reduction (HR) and HR based services
FEANTSA's declaration, which has been signed by EPHA, aims to promote Harm Reduction (HR) and HR based services in Europe. FEANTSA has been partner in the transnational project HR4homelessness - Integrating Harm Reduction in Homeless Services which has been promoting HR services for people who use drugs in situations of homelessness. The project provided extensive training and knowledge sharing between drug/alcohol specialist and homeless services. Despite the strong research evidence of the effectiveness of HR services in terms of improving people’s health, by reducing the risk of being infected with life-threatening diseases, people in situations of homelessness still lack access to effective HR services in many Member States.
The Declaration calls upon European-level decision and policy makers to support the further establishment of HR services in Europe, especially for people who use drugs/alcohol in a problematic way in situations of homelessness..
In signing, organisations commit to supporting:
1. the establishment of service provision which is based on the HR approach and on existing evidence;
2. the establishment of services which effectively address user needs, interventions which are human-rights and public health-based;
3. the further integration of drug and alcohol specialist services into the mainstream health care system;
4. the active involvement of people who use drugs or alcohol as key stakeholders for the set-up and design of support services;
5. the development and implementation of policies which support the establishment of HR services.
6. encouraging Member States to ensure sufficient HR service provision for people in situation of homelessness.
7. efforts for making sufficient European funding available for transnational knowledge and best practice sharing, for instance through European projects, to improve service provision for people who use drugs/alcohol in situation of homelessness, particularly in the framework of the European Health Programme.
