The rule of law can be a powerful and effective tool for building a society that is free of injustice and filled with opportunities for all, but the operational environment that accompanies human rights advocacy can limit its effectiveness. This summer, while working as a legal intern at an NGO in Kathmandu, Nepal, I experienced these challenges firsthand.

By Celina Su

In 2000, I began to work with a small, community-based project called the Burmese Refugee Project (BRP) in northwest Thailand. Using a participatory model of community development, the BRP helps over 100 Burmese Shan refugees in northwest Thailand access education, health, and legal services. Through this work, I learned that refugees are the victims of what public health researchers call structural violence--physical and mental harm that results from unjust social, economic, and political structures. Many of the prescriptions that would treat these ailments--such as a shared wheelbarrow so that the refugees do not have to carry 50-kilo bags of rice on their shoulders, and for the man above, sunglasses to treat pterygium (a scar on the eyes caused by sun damage)--fall outside typical medical practice.

This post is based on the presentation that Asia Catalyst scholarship recipient Zhao Gang from Kang Xin Home, a drug user NGO based in Yunnan, China, gave at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna this July. Kang Xin Home (pronounced Kang Shin) aims to bring together Chinese people living with HIV (PLHIV), injecting drug users (IDU), and methadone treatment personnel in order to promote HIV/AIDS prevention, self-help and mutual support. Kang Xin aims to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS on their community, improve the quality of life for drug users and PLHIV, and promote social equality.

The Situation of drug users

There are several main problems that drug users face in their daily life which impact their ability to build an organization. Long-term drug abuse leads to low self esteem. Drug users in our area lack stable employment and therefore a secure livelihood. They are marginalized and lack support and trust from the community they live in. The resulting instability makes it difficult for them to integrate into society. Grassroots nongovernmental organizations (NGO) can benefit drug users and give them hope through both the services they provide and the opportunity to get active. However, organizing drug users faces some distinct challenges that I would like to discuss here. This discussion is part of a process to actively find solutions and to build sustainable organizations by and for drug users in China.

For most drug users and people who work with them, overdose is an urgent issue. Many AIDS, harm reduction, and other drug service organizations have created programs to educate people who use drugs about overdose prevention and response techniques; to distribute naloxone - a safe and highly effective opioid overdose antidote. This document presents arguments that organizations can make to AIDS funders to show that overdose prevention and response matter for HIV programming. Download the document here.

在大多数地方，参与药物服务的人很清楚过量是一个事关重大的问题。从事艾滋病、伤害减低和其他药物服务的许多组织已创建了项目，以便：向吸毒者提供过量预防和应对技巧的教育；发放纳洛酮----这是一种包含在《世界卫生组织基本药品示范清单》中，安全高效的鸦片类药物过量的解药；并且记录过量的普遍程度和应对措施的成效。过量预防对HIV/艾滋病的项目为什么重要，本文作了概括性的评述。在这里下载文件。

By Chan Fei

AIDS Concern is proud to launch its newly published Chinese-language manual POZ in the City, coauthored by AIDS Concern and a group of people living with HIV (PLHIV) experienced in public speaking. We invite you to step forward and work together to combat stigma and prejudice attached to PLHIV. 香港「关怀爱滋」伙拍一群公众演说经验丰富的感染者共同撰写了「正能量计划」手册，希望籍此和各位同工及感染者分享如何进行感染者公众演说，共同为消除对爱滋病和爱滋病病毒感染者的标签及偏见努力。

Download: Handbook in Simplified Chinese

http://www.aidsconcern.org.hk/aids_handbook_schi.pdf

By Mike Frick

From June through early August, I helped Asia Catalyst's partner organization, Phoenix, to train five volunteers in research and rights documentation skills. Phoenix is an NGO that serves women living with HIV/AIDS - many of them sex workers and drug users -- in Gejiu, Yunnan Province, China. The five participating volunteers on our research team are all former drug users, and several of them also work as sex workers. Our goal was to build their capacity to conduct the kind of research that can inform advocacy and make a difference in the lives of the community Phoenix serves.