A/79/177 IX. Good practices 99. In Estonia, greater access to harm reduction services led to a 97 per cent reduction in new HIV diagnoses among people who inject drugs between 2007 and 2016. 214 100. The provision of scientific information on psychoactive substances and on their side effects (including risks and potential after-effects) are effective harm reduction measures, such as in Switzerland, with the “Just Say Know” campaign. The country conducts annual training of professionals in the field, including medical and non-medical professionals, regarding the risk of communicable disease transmission associated with drug use, including in prisons, which is an effective harm reduction measure. 215 101. The decriminalization of sex work has been shown to have positive impacts on the health of sex workers, among others. 216 New Zealand decriminalized sex work in 2003, with the explicit goal of protecting the human rights of sex workers. Prior to that change, sex workers were often reluctant to reveal their occupation to health professionals or carry condoms. 217 They are also increasingly able to reject certain practices and negotiate safer sex. 218 102. In Australia, successful harm reduction programmes, coupled with services provided by peer-based drug user organizations, have sustained the virtual elimination of HIV transmission among people who inject drugs and form part of the country’s national hepatitis C strategy, which also includes outreach services, including to remote and Indigenous populations, as well as integrated care models. Opioid dependence treatment medicines are available at a significantly reduced cost to patients under the country’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which subsidizes most cost-effective medications. The “Rethink Addiction” national convention was launched, with the participation of people with lived experience, so as to reduce the stigma associated with alcohol, drugs, gambling and addiction. 219 103. In Mali, in the country’s northern regions, it is difficult for health services and health-care workers to carry out their routine activities. In response, the Government has collaborated with non-governmental humanitarian organizations to ensure the continuation of health services. 220 104. In 2022 in Argentina, a programme that aims to establish integrated and comprehensive access to health care among people who use or are dependent on drugs was implemented, by strengthening the network among health and mental health -care providers, Government and non-government actors, in order to achieve access, quality care and equity. The programme aims to create interjurisdictional, multidisciplinary spaces for consultation so as to collaboratively design strategies to integrate policies on drugs and mental health, with an emphasis on the care system. Furthermore, the __________________ 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 24-13226 Marty Lise and others, “Revealing HIV epidemic dynamics and contrasting responses in two WHO Eastern European countries: insights from modeling and data triangulation”, AIDS, vol. 35, No. 4 (March 2015); and submission from UNAIDS. Submission from Switzerland. A/HRC/14/20, para. 35. Jan Jordan, The Sex Industry in New Zealand: A Literature Review (Wellington, New Zealand Ministry of Justice, 2005), p. 65, cited in A/HRC/14/20, para. 35. New Zealand, Ministry of Justice, Report of the Prostitution Law Reform Committee on the Operation of the Prostitution Reform Act of 2003 (Wellington, 2008), pp. 46–47 and 50, cited A/HRC/14/20, para. 35. Submission from Australia. Submission from Mali. 23/28