DoH announces harm reduction action plan

The Department of Health (DoH) has announced the launch of a two million pound action plan aiming to lower the number of people dying each year as a result of drug overdoses and blood-borne diseases contracted from the use of dirty needles.

In the first part of the decade there was a reduction in the number drug-related deaths and infections in England, though the DoH reports that this trend has halted in the past few years.

At present, 44 per cent of injecting drug users have contracted hepatitis C while 2005 saw the deaths of 1,506 individuals from drug abuse.

Proposals published this week will seek to provide more effective treatment for those that misuse drugs and offer improved opportunities for rehabilitation and support for abstinence.

The action plan includes improved quality of data, examination of proposals for the routine collection of needle exchange data and arrangements to improve harm reduction in at-risk individuals.

Caroline Flint, public health minister, said: “The harms, diseases and sometimes death caused by drug abuse are still a tragedy for those affected, their families and friends, and the government is determined to reduce them.”

She added that rigorous effort could help combat the incidence of overdose and contraction of HIV and hepatitis in drug users, with partnership working necessary to help drug users alter their behaviour to lower these risks.

In November 2005, the British Medical Association warned that some patients are misusing over-the-counter pharmaceutical products including aspirin, ibuprofen and paracetamol and advised doctors to be aware of individuals being potentially addicted to these substances.