Ministry of Health and UNICEF Iran Office hold training workshop on HIV prevention and harm reduction for adolescents and youth

A training workshop on the best practices of HIV prevention and harm reduction for adolescents and youth using Amphetamine-type Stimulants was held from 1-3 September 2014 in Shiraz in partnership with the Ministry of Health and the UNICEF Iran Office, AVA Diplomatic reports.

Experts and policy-makers from the national strategic committee as well as HIV/AIDS focal points from 16 medical universities across Iran attended this training which was hosted by Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in close collaboration with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the HIV/AIDS office of the Ministry of Health.

In this workshop participants were trained on some of the globally evaluated best practices in the area of HIV prevention and harm reduction amongst adolescents and young ATS users.

 “The fact that there were so many participants from the government is indicative of the level of interest and support of the government of Iran to addressing the issue of HIV and adolescents.” Said Dr. Chad Hughes, Team Leader at Infectious Diseases and Harm Reduction Centre, Burnet Institute, Medical Research and Practical Action, Australia who acted as the main trainer in this workshop. Referring to the often neglected age of adolescence in HIV-related discussions, Dr. Hughes said: “adolescents are exploring life and making decisions without being much informed of how these decisions might affect them. There is so much talk about HIV and adults or HIV and young infants but adolescents are often missing from such discussions. Fortunately this training was a good opportunity to explore this important topic.“

In the next stage, the participants, with the leadership of CDC, are expected to work on a replicable model of intervention on prevention of ATS use and HIV-related harm reduction amongst young people in Iran.