Streets of Athens
Streets of Athens, implemented since 1998, is a program for the reduction of harm, the prevention of HIV / AIDS and other infectious diseases, the provision of primary health care and psycho-social consulting to drug users in the capital of Greece.
The principle of harm reduction is based on protecting the right to health of people who are drug dependent, both in relation to the prevention of the transmission of the HIV / AIDS and other infectious diseases, and in terms of connecting these people to health services. Doctors of the World Greece works according to these basic principles of Harm Reduction, meaning endorsing ways to “reduce the harms associated with the use of psychoactive drugs in people unable or unwilling to stop”. The defining features are the focus on the prevention of harm, rather than on the prevention of drug use itself, and the focus on people who continue to use drugs.
An mobile medical unit with a team of volunteers visits central meeting points of this population, providing the following services:
- primary health care and immediate care for emergencies (infections, care of wounds, abscesses, etc.)
- psycho-social support
- activities aimed at reducing the transmission of HIV/AIDS, Hep C and other infectious diseases (distribution of sterilized material for safer use, sessions on harm reduction, among other activities)
- HIV & HCV rapid tests
- primary health care and immediate care for emergencies (infections, care of wounds, abscesses, etc.)
- psycho-social support
- activities aimed at reducing the transmission of HIV and hepatitis