Early during the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic, the stigmatizing of individuals who were identified with the acquired immune-deficiency syndrome (AIDS) became a serious concern. HIV/AIDS stigma consequences include discouraging individuals from seeking voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) and from disclosing their seropositive status to sexual partners, family, and friends. Injection drug users (IDUs) have been an important risk group for HIV/AIDS and are highly stigmatized. Therefore, increased understanding about the correlates of stigma among this HIV/AIDS risk group is necessary in order to design and implement better preventive measures, programming, and surveillance systems. The purpose of this analytic study was to evaluate the relationship between injection drug use behavior and reported stigma among IDUs in Kazakhstan to determine if length of time using injection drugs is predictive of self-reported stigmatization. A cross-sectional survey of IDUs in Kazakhstan was conducted in 2007 using a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Sentinel Surveillance System Survey and an additional appended survey that focused on questions related to VCT in the presence of stigma. Demographic data collected from 1043 participants included age, gender, nationality, city or location, highest education level attained, and current occupation. Additional questions assessed participants' length of time injecting drugs, perceived discrimination or stigmatization, knowledge on how HIV/AIDS is acquired, and single syringe sharing behavior and handling practices. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize general findings about the population. Linear regression models were constructed and bivariate analyses were conducted to determine the association between self-reported stigmatization scores and all variables. Statistical significance was determined by One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and T-tests, using 95% confidence intervals and p = 0.05. Selected variables were further analyzed using Tukey-Kramer's test. A linear regression model was developed to include variables with significance at the p = (0.05 level) to obtain a final parsimonious model. This analysis revealed that length of injection drug use, knowledge about ways of contracting HIV/AIDS, and the interaction these two variables held, were significantly associated with self-reported stigmatization. In general, it was found that the longer an individual continued to be an IDU, the lower self-reported stigmatization he or she experienced. Participants demonstrated they were very knowledgeable about ways in which HIV is contracted. Further analyses participants' understanding of how HIV is contracted aided them in feeling less stigmatized. This finding provides a compelling account since public health interventions against HIV/AIDS typically include the increase of knowledge via healthy behavior promotion.

The EMCDDA's 10th scientific monograph, entitled Harm reduction: evidence, impacts and challenges provides a comprehensive overview of the harm reduction field. Part I of the monograph looks back at the emergence of harm reduction approaches and their diffusion, and explores the concept from different perspectives, including international organisations, academic researchers and drug users. Part II is dedicated to current evidence and impacts of harm reduction and illustrates how the concept has broadened to cover a wide range of behaviours and harms. Part III addresses the current challenges and innovations in the field. The core audience of the monograph comprises policymakers, healthcare professionals working with drug users, as well as the wider interested public -- EU Bookshop.

In The globalization of crime: a transnational organized crime threat assessment, UNODC analyses a range of key transnational crime threats, including human trafficking, migrant smuggling, the illicit heroin and cocaine trades, cybercrime, maritime piracy and trafficking in environmental resources, firearms and counterfeit goods. The report also examines a number of cases where transnational organized crime and instability amplify each other to create vicious circles in which countries or even subregions may become locked. Thus, the report offers a striking view of the global dimensions of organized crime today.

While facing severe marginalization and discrimination that has resulted in epidemics of HIV and hepatitis C, millions of people who use illegal drugs remain largely unrepresented when decisions are made about how to respond to health and other concerns. "Nothing About Us Without Us"--Greater, Meaningful Involvement of People Who Use Illegal Drugs: A Public Health, Ethical, and Human Rights Imperative, examines why it is important to increase meaningful involvement of people who use (or have used) illegal drugs in the response to HIV and HCV, and explores how this can be done. Two new editions of the report--an international version now available in English, and a Russian language edition focusing on Eastern Europe and Central Asia--were prepared through a consultation process involving hundreds of drug user activists. Though both editions contain new content, they are based on a similar project by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network in 2005 in Canada, which was funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The reports also include a Manifesto prepared by people who use drugs and endorsed by the International Network of People Who Use Drugs. The Manifesto is a declaration affirming that people who use drugs have a say in decisions affecting their lives, and lists a set of demands, including recognition, funding, support, and involvement in efforts on behalf of drug users. Nothing About Us Without Us is jointly published by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, and the Open Society Institute, with additional financial support from the government of Canada through the Canadian International Development Agency.--Publisher description

Testing and diagnosis of hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) infection is the gateway for access to both prevention and treatment services, and is a crucial component of an effective response to the hepatitis epidemic. Early identification of persons with chronic HBV or HCV infection enables them to receive the necessary care and treatment to prevent or delay progression of liver disease. Testing also provides an opportunity to link people to interventions to reduce transmission, through counselling on risk behaviors and provision of prevention commodities (such as sterile needles and syringes) and hepatitis B vaccination. These are the first WHO guidelines on testing for chronic HBV and HCV infection and complement published guidance by WHO on the prevention, care and treatment of chronic hepatitis C and hepatitis B infection. These guidelines outline the public health approach to strengthening and expanding current testing practices for HBV and HCV, and are intended for use across age groups and populations.

The Global Monitoring Report 2014/2015: Ending Poverty and Sharing Prosperity was written jointly by the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund, with substantive inputs from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. This year's report details, for the first time, progress toward the WBG's twin goals of ending extreme poverty by 2030 and promoting shared prosperity and assesses the state of policies and institutions that are important for achieving them. The report continues to monitor progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Also for the first time, the report includes information about high-income countries. It finds that while gaps in living standards have been closing in many countries, the well-being of households in the bottom 40 percent, as measured by the non-income MDGs such as access to education and health services, remains below that of households in the top 60 percent. The focus of this year's report is on three elements needed to make growth more inclusive and sustainable: investment in human capital that favors the poor, the best use of safety nets, and steps to ensure the environmental sustainability of economic growth. These three elements are imperative to all countries' development strategies, and are also fundamental to global efforts to achieve the twin goals, the MDGs, and the Sustainable Development Goals that will succeed the MDGs. Global Monitoring Report 2014/2015 was prepared in collaboration with regional development banks and other multilateral partners.

The implications of biodiversity loss for the global environment have been widely discussed, but only recently has attention been paid to its direct and serious effects on human health. Biodiversity loss affects the spread of human diseases, causes a loss of medical models, diminishes the supplies of raw materials for drug discovery and biotechnology, and threatens food production and water quality. Biodiversity and Human Health brings together leading thinkers on the global environment and biomedicine to explore the human health consequences of the loss of biological diversity. Based on a two-day conference sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution, the book opens a dialogue among experts from the fields of public health, biology, epidemiology, botany, ecology, demography, and pharmacology on this vital but often neglected concern. Contributors discuss the uses and significance of biodiversity to the practice of medicine today, and develop strategies for conservation of these critical resources. Topics examined include: the causes and consequences of biodiversity loss emerging infectious diseases and the loss of biodiversity the significance and use of both prescription and herbal biodiversity-derived remedies indigenous and local peoples and their health care systems sustainable use of biodiversity for medicine an agenda for the future In addition to the editors, contributors include Anthony Artuso, Byron Bailey, Jensa Bell, Bhaswati Bhattacharya, Michael Boyd, Mary S. Campbell, Eric Chivian, Paul Cox, Gordon Cragg, Andrew Dobson, Kate Duffy-Mazan, Robert Engelman, Paul Epstein, Alexandra S. Fairfield, John Grupenhoff, Daniel Janzen, Catherine A. Laughin, Katy Moran, Robert McCaleb, Thomas Mays, David Newman, Charles Peters, Walter Reid, and John Vandermeer. The book provides a common framework for physicians and biomedical researchers who wish to learn more about environmental concerns, and for members of the environmental community who desire a greater understanding of biomedical issues.