People Who Use Drugs | Elton John AIDS Foundation

To end AIDS, people who use drugs need care and support, not stigma and shame.

Recent figures suggest over 11 million people around the world inject drugs. That’s a huge number of people facing 35 times the risk of HIV.

Yet the harm reduction programmes and services that are proven to work aren’t getting enough investment. Just 1% of people who inject drugs have access to these.

We’re making it a priority to change this. Shifting the narrative of blame around drug use is a vital part of that.

Misha is an outreach worker who works with people who inject drugs. He is gathering supplies in their mobile clinic for the community.

Fighting barriers not people

Right now, the global ‘war on drugs’ is really a war on people who use drugs.

In many countries, laws and systems increase the harm caused by drugs. The fear of abuse by authorities pushes people away from life-saving care.

Evidence shows that treating people like criminals because they use drugs just makes their health worse. Yet people who use drugs are overrepresented in prisons, where proven services are often scarce. This approach just puts more barriers between people and the care they need. Read more about how stigma is preventing us from ending AIDS.

We want to make sure people who use drugs get non-judgmental support. The services on offer need to be sensitive to their age, sexuality, and gender and focused on positive change.

We’re working with partners across Africa, Asia and the United States – to:

amend and reform laws and policies that criminalise people who use drugs
gather resources and put them to work to improve life-saving care – including services that connect people to HIV treatment, provide sterile needles, help manage and reduce opioid use, and provide naloxone to reverse overdose
secure stronger political commitment and investment, making sure people who use drugs stay on the agenda and have their voices heard
inspire a big increase in funding for harm reduction in lower- and middle-income countries by 2027.

Learn how The Rocket Fund is helping to end the stigma against people who use drugs so that they can access non-judgemental harm reduction and HIV services.