The change is in your pocket

Eastern Europe the epicentre of growing HIV epidemic

Posted on October 15, 2012  /  Comments Off

While HIV/Aids infection rates are falling globally, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the epidemic is gaining momentum in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) — a trend experts blame on harsh government policies and discrimination in healthcare.

“In most post-Soviet countries [in particular], where HIV remains concentrated among injecting drug users, harsh policies and discrimination in healthcare settings continue to cripple the AIDS response,” said Daniel Wolfe, director of the International Harm Reduction Development Programme at the Open Society Foundations.

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Portugal’s innovative drug policy offers alternative to failed ‘war on drugs’

Posted on September 6, 2012  /  Comments Off

Portugal’s radical policy of decriminalising all drugs to tackle escalating drug abuse was met with scepticism and derision by western nations who have long taken a hard line on drug abuse. A decade later, Portugal now has the upper hand after it’s policy has been proven to reduce drug addiction while the zero tolerance nations have begun to admit the “war on drugs” isn’t winning over the “enemy”. Mario Queiroz reviews Portugal’s successes.

Portugal was traditionally one of the European countries with the lowest levels of drug use. That is until the 1980s and 1990s, when drug abuse, especially of heroin, became a major problem.

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Baffling illness reaches epidemic proportions in Uganda

Posted on August 14, 2012  /  Comments Off

Thousands of Ugandan children are suffering from a mysterious illness that manifests itself through the nodding of the head. So far 200 children have died from the disease in northern Uganda, but government health workers and NGOs remain in the dark about both its cause and cure, Henry Wasswa reports from Uganda

Under a tall mango tree in the village of Tumangu in Uganda, a young girl called Susan suddenly has a seizure and begins wailing and crying as her friends struggle to restrain her. The 17-year-old’s convulsions last for some 20 minutes.

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Marijuana legal reform reaches ‘tipping point’ in US

Posted on July 4, 2012  /  4 Comments

In what may be a silent admission that the “war on drugs” has failed abysmally, there’s been a flurry of recent activity signalling that, much like same-sex marriage, marijuana policies have reached a tipping point in the US.

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