Edited by: Nick Crofts (Editor-in-Chief), Timothy John Moore, AM, Brigitte Tenni, PhD & Nick Thomson, PhD
This issue presents reports from a program of research carried out in the Mekong region countries of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam into the relationship of policing and harm reduction in those countries - countries at different stages of evolution of the HIV epidemic, but where injecting drug use is either now or potentially a major driver of the national epidemic. The genesis of the research was in the realisation that while much is known about the impact of policing practice on the creation or aggravation of risk environments for HIV transmission among drug users, much less is know about the impact of harm reduction programs and policies on police approaches to drug use and drug users - knowledge essential for successful advocacy and program design. In this issue is an overview from a regional harm reduction program, and three country reports by local and collaborating researchers illustrated by a number of case studies. We hope this work contributes substantially to the better development of the police partnership in the fight against HIV in the South East Asian region. Sponsorship for these manuscripts was received from AUSAid.
Collection published in Harm Reduction Journal: 9 July 2012