§ Viscount Craigavonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they support the general aims of the report by International Family Health, HIV/AIDS and drug misuse in Russia: harm reduction programmes and the Russian legal system. [HL5519]
§ Baroness AmosYes. The Department for International Development has provided technical assistance worth £480,000 for a project entitledBuilding Police Support for Harm Reduction managed by International Family Health, which runs from August 2001 to December 2003. The project aims to work in partnership with the Russian police as an integral part of strategies, including harm reduction, for combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Russia, and IFH's report is one of its outputs. The report seeks to analyse and raise questions about a range of issues on HIV/AIDS and drugs misuse, and harm reduction 332WA programmes in Russia, from the standpoint of the Russian legal system. It seeks to contribute to the debate about the efficacy of harm reduction programmes in preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS.