INTRODUKTION TILL KONCEPTET PEER SUPPORT
THE EUROPEAN PEER SUPPORT MANUAL
PEER SUPPORT AS A METHOD FOR AIDS PREVENTION IN IDU COMMUNITIES
The European Peer Support Project :
Encouragement, development and sup port of AIDS prevention by peer sup port in in trave nous drug user communities is supported by the "Commission of European Communities.
Peer support as part of a harm reduction strategy:
Peer support or peer education are part of a harm reduction strategy. The primary aim is to offer services to ameliorate the living conditions of drug users. Getting off drugs is not unimportant but secondary. The main issue is to develop accessible drug aid programmes. The programmes of the Dutch self-organisations underlines this. They are based on the view that a repressive drug policy, as defined by criminal law, is regarded as a fundamentally inappropriate approach to the drug problem. In their view a repressive drug policy can be held responsible for the main part of what is called the 'drug problem'.
The concept of `acceptance' is a basic notion regarding AIDS prevention methods adequate for reaching drug users effectively. The keynote of the so-called acceptance model is recognition of the drug user as a human being with the same rights as other human beings. That means for instance that s/he has the right to choose the way how s/he wants to live; if and how s/he wants assistance. One consequence of this idea is to offer assistance without formulating prerequisites such as stopping drug use. Offering `low threshold' drug aid services creates the possibility to reach drug users effectively.
Peer support and peer education fit well in this framework of harm reduction as can be shown by the work of the self-organisations in The Netherlands. Besides more general political aspects AIDS has become a prominent issue in the work of these organisations. One example is the syringe exchange which was, in The Netherlands, an idea of MDHG and was initially, in 1984, carried out exclusively by MDHG. The drug aid services at the time refused to carry out the syringe exchange, afraid of supporting instead of discouraging drug use. By 1981 the Rotterdam Junkiebond had started to distribute syringes on a small scale, not with the aim to reduce the risk of HIV infection, but primarily to prevent the spread of hepatitis. This and other initiatives were important to make safer use an issue among drug users. It had in itself a peer support or peer education effect. Giving out syringes and needles meant drawing attention to the risk of HIV/AIDS and to the importance of safer use. It stimulated drug users to talk about these issues, to ask questions, to be frank about their fears, etc. Besides the need for information these emotional aspects have played an important role at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. Drug aid services were (and sometimes still are) not able to deal properly with these problems.
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