Drug Use Prevention, Treatment, and Care: Harm Reduction Works: Drug use is a public health issue with an impact on development and security. One of the top 20 risk factors to health globally, it is closely associated with HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis, suicide, overdose death, and cardiovascular diseases. The continuing criminalization of drug use results in fostering the stigma associated with drug use, and generating multiple forms of discrimination and social exclusion, including access to healthcare. People who use drugs are hence further pushed underground and away from services they rightfully need. What is harm reduction? Harm reduction refers to a range of pragmatic and evidence-based public health policies and practices aimed at reducing the negative consequences associated with drug use and other related risk factors such as HIV and AIDS. These interventions exemplify human rights in action by seeking to alleviate hazards faced by the injecting drug users, where needed, without distinction and without judgement. The IFRC advocates harm reduction for one very simple reason: It works. The United Nations estimates that approximately 15.9 million people living in 148 countries regularly inject drugs. Known as injecting drug users, these individuals are particularly vulnerable to HIV, Hepatitis C and B infections owing to risky behaviours such as sharing syringes and needles, unsafe sex practices and a general lack of health-seeking behaviour. Worldwide, an estimated three million injecting drug users are now living with HIV