Pompidou Group

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Pompidou Group COVID-19 platform offers actions and practices to protect people’s health and lives

The COVID-19 pandemic is a major challenge for every State and affects every citizen. Today all Pompidou Group member states are facing choices in which the very principles represented by the Council of Europe – democracy, human rights and rule of law – are at stake.

To support its member states in meeting the challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pompidou Group set up an on-line platform for the use of decision makers and practitioners. The platform offers concrete examples of practices that are aimed at mitigating the adverse effects of the COVID-19 crisis and associated restrictions for the people who use drugs as well as those who are in contact with them.

The platform is intended to serve as a pool of practices and a forum for discussion on how to meet the urgent needs of these risk groups. Its purpose is to help deciding on actions aimed at providing harm and risk reduction measures and delivering drug treatment and rehabilitation services both in the community and in detention settings under the current restrictions evoked by the COVID-19 pandemic and with available resources.

Governmental bodies, service providers, experts, civil society organisations, as well as individuals providing lived experience can contribute to the platform. Videos, photos and short summaries presenting practice examples can be submitted and will be displayed in one of the six languages of the platform: English, French, Russian, Italian, German and Spanish.

Are you involved in protecting the health of people with addiction problems or are you part of this risk group?

Share your experience now and get inspired by other’s actions on the platform.

Covid-19 and people who use drugs

This publication from March 2021 presents experiences and responses to the Covid-19 pandemic by frontline workers and people who use drugs. It builds on practice examples from 21 countries submitted on the Pompidou Group’s Save Lives - Protect People platform.

The interviews, articles and reports in the publication showcase valuable experiences and approaches to fight the pandemic across countries, seen through the eyes of experts, frontline workers delivering services under challenging conditions of a COVID-19 outbreak and the people who benefit from those services.

This makes the publication a valuable source of information for drug treatment and harm reduction professionals, researchers and policy makers for understanding the impact of the pandemic on this often underserved and marginalised group, the daily fight of health and social workers and the support they need to overcome the unprecedented crisis linked to the pandemic.