Asia Catalyst and 25 other regional networks and organizations called this week for methadone and buprenorphine access at the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, to take place this month in Busan, Korea.

August 17, 2011

To: Mr. Elly Katabira, President, International AIDS Society
Ms. Anouk Rey, Conference Director, International AIDS Society
Mr. Zahid Hussein, President, AIDS Society of Asia‐Pacific
Mr. Myung‐Hwan Cho, Congress
Chair, ICAAP LOC Secretariat
Minister Soo Hee Chin, Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare

CC: Mr. Steve Kraus, Director, Regional Support Team, UNAIDS Bangkok
Mr. Michel Sidibé, Executive Director, UNAIDS
Mr. Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director, The Global Fund
Mr. Peter Baxter, Director General, AusAID
Dr. Margaret Chan, Director‐General,
World Health Organization
Mr. Haruhiko Kuroda, President, Asian Development Bank
Mr. Robert B. Zoellick, President, World Bank
Ambassador Eric Goosby, Global AIDS Coordinator, PEPFAR
Mr. Christian Kroll, Global Coordinator for HIV/AIDS, UNODC
Mr. Gary Lewis, Regional Representative, UNODC RCEAP, Thailand.

Dear Colleagues,

We are writing to express our grave concern about the discriminatory barriers
faced by people who use drugs (PUD) in participating at the 10th International Congress on AIDS
in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) being held in Busan, Republic of Korea 26‐30 August 2011.

According to an official statement issued by the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of ICAAP, “Notice for PUDs”, globally accepted opioid substitution treatment medications such as methadone and buprenorphine will not be available at ICAAP, though “carry‐in of methadone for self‐treatment purpose is allowed under the permission of Korea Food and Drug Administration.”

This is not a solution. Asia Catalyst has provided a scholarship to a former drug user from China who has been invited to present at ICAAP, her first time traveling to an international conference. Under Chinese law, methadone is only legal in China when consumed at a methadone clinic.

Once removed from the clinic, methadone becomes an illegal narcotic and may not be carried out of the clinic premises – and certainly not out of the country.

The failure of the Korean government to make arrangements for provision of methadone to conference participants in effect denies Chinese drug users the opportunity of participating in the ICAAP, because they cannot legally bring in methadone from China.

There are conference participants from other countries in Asia, such as Malaysia or Myanmar, who may face similar obstacles. For any such delegate, the failure to provide methadone at ICAAP creates discriminatory barriers to conference attendance.

Even for those countries where it is possible to obtain methadone legally, bringing along a personal supply of methadone creates an increased health risk to the PUD attending ICAAP. Without the safety net of an additional supply at the conference, should a dose be lost or in any way compromised, PUD will face serious health risks. Additionally, since Korea currently does not have a national methadone program, we are concerned that local doctors might not be equipped to respond to these or any other medical emergencies that may arise for PUD at the conference.

This situation raises larger questions about the purpose of these international conferences that we feel donors should seriously consider. AIDS conferences, and the high registration fees they charge, raise many thousands of dollars in income for host countries and conference conveners from the international community – AIDS funding that could also be spent on providing life-saving medicines to people who desperately need them. We are sure there will be many senior officials at ICAAP who will travel to Busan at the expense of international donors in order to speak about the importance of reaching out to and consulting with KAPs and PLHIV. But are we successfully creating a conference environment that ensures the safety, well-being, and access to necessary health and medical services for KAPS, including people who
use drugs?

We call on the International AIDS Society and the ICAAP organizers:

• To issue an official statement expressing a clear commitment to the public
and to all members of the International AIDS Society that in the future, any
country applying to host an International AIDS Conference (such as ICAAP) that
does not present a clear plan to enable people who use drugs, sex workers and
MSM to overcome any existing logistical and legal barriers to conference
participation as part of its bid, will not be considered or selected as a host
of the conference.

• State explicitly in the bidding guidelines that Access to Health Care is a
major criteria for consideration, and this must necessarily include the
provision of Opiate Substitution Therapy (OST) by the host country.

We call on the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the government of the
Republic of Korea:

• To provide staff assistance and support to Asian drug user participants to
ensure that anyone invited to present at the conference who needs methadone and
other OST medication will have access to them;

• To provide experienced and trained doctors at the conference who can assist
PLHIV and drug user participants in case of emergency; and

• To make methadone generally available to opioid dependent citizens of the
Republic of Korea.

One year ago, AIDS advocates, government officials and UN representatives all
marched together with the IAS at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna to demand
human rights be part of the global response to the AIDS pandemic.

We now call on the IAS, the ICAAP organizers and the Korean government to
uphold that commitment, and eliminate all discriminatory barriers that prevent
our colleagues from making their voices heard at ICAAP.

Sincerely,

Asia Catalyst
Asian Network of People Who Use Drugs
Asia Pacific Network of People living with HIV/AIDS (APN+)
Coalition of Asia Pacific Regional Networks on HIV/AIDS (7S)
Indonesian Network of People who Use Drug
The International Center for Advancement of Addiction Treatment
The Global Drug Policy Program of the Open Society Foundations
The International Harm Reduction Development program of the Open
Society Foundations
Performa, Central Java, Indonesia
Mr. Abou Mere, President, Indian Drug Users Forum
Mr. Anand Chabungbam, ANPUD
Becklyn Ulzen‐Christian, Pathfinders
Outreach Ministry, Accra, Ghana
Mr. Bijay Pandey, Nepal Harm Reduction Association
Dr. Chris Ford GP, Clinical Director, International Doctors for
Healthy Drug Policies (IDHDP), UK
Dan Bigg, Director, Chicago Recovery Alliance, USA
Mr. Dipu Joshi, Naya Goreto
Ele Morrison, International Program Manager, Australian Injecting &
Illicit Drug Users League
(AIVL), Australia
Francis Joseph, DFID AIDS Technical Assistance Support Team for NACO, India
Giten Khwairakpam, 7 Sisters
Gregg Gonsalves, USA
Haobam Nanao, Manipur State, India
James Hoyt, Hepatitis, AIDS, Research Trust
Jan Klimas, Dublin, Ireland
Joy Ganguly, ANPUD
Mohammad Harun Al Rashid, CARAM Asia
Nikhil Gurung, Nepal
Mr. Ranvir Singh, Prana
Mr. Sam Nugraha, National Coordinator, Persaudaraan Korban Napza
Indonesia (PKNI)
Shaun Mellors, Board Member, Communities Living with HIV, TB and
affected by Malaria Delegation – Global Fund Board
Mr. Sujan Raj Joshi, Youth Vision
Tendayi Westerhof, Public Personalities Against AIDS Trust, Harare, Zimbabwe
Yvonne A. Sibuea, general coordinator, PERFORMA
Zulaika Esentaeva, Public Health Program Coordinator, Soros Foundation
– Kyrgyzstan