Women who use drugs, harm reduction and HIV

This issue brief about HIV, harm reduction and the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women who use drugs is part of a series of briefing papers, commissioned by the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS, and is designed to provide up-to-date information around key issues concerning HIV prevention, treatment and care related to women and girls. Harm reduction refers to policies, programmes and practices that aim to reduce the harms associated with the use of psychoactive drugs. The defining features are the focus on the prevention of harm, rather than on the prevention of drug use itself, including a focus on people who continue to use drugs.