 | | Hiding for police in Dar es Salaam | Mainline travelled
to Tanzania this November. The harbour of Dar es Salaam is crowded with people
who use heroin and hide under the boats as soon as the police arrives. People
found in the possession of drugs are harassed, arrested and jailed. Most of the
heroin users there risk overdose, disease and police brutality.
Mainlines Guido
visited partner Mukikute, an organisation that supports people who use heroin.
They offer drug users a safe place with facilities, such as a place to wash
clothes and shower, get referrals to the methadone programme, seek help from support
groups and obtain the supply of clean needles. A nurse is available to test for
infectious diseases and to provide wound care. The outreach team proactively visits
hotspots where people gather to use drugs and tries to link people with services
that can improve their health and rights.
Over the course of
2020, Mukikute and Mainline will attempt to gain evidence and support for the
harm reduction approach in order to upscale harm reduction services throughout
the country.
Click here to learn more about our work in Tanzania and check out our photos of the trip on Facebook. | |
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 | | The Vietnam field lab for stimulant harm reduction: watch the aftermovie | With the
support of Open Society Foundation, Mainline and SCDI in Vietnam have started
setting up a field lab for
stimulant harm reduction. The field lab will provide a harm reduction response
to the rise in the use of crystal meth in the Southeast Asian region. In seven
intense weeks, local grassroot organisations have been trained in a community approach
to address acute and chronic (mental) health issues, which may result from
intense or frequent use of meth.
We are very
proud of what was achieved in the past two months and we hope to be able to
invite and train organisations from the region over the course of next year.
Find the movie of the training here:
it will make your day 😉.
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 | | A new year and a new partner | As of 2020, the HARMLess project in
Pretoria, South Africa, continues under the wings of the Foundation for Professional
Development (FPD).
FPD seeks to build a better society through
education and capacity development and Mainline happily welcomes them as their
new partner. Together with FPD, Mainline hopes to achieve a positive and
sustainable impact on the health and rights of people who use drugs in Pretoria
and Mbombela.
Read more about HARMless, Mainlines partners in South Africa and the important work they do.
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 | | Find a certified harm reduction trainer close to wherever you are! | Mainline’s trainer-of-trainer programme has
proved to be a success! Our three certified trainers are ready to improve your
harm reduction skills, and they can do so in your region. You can read more about them and contact them via our website.
It is Mainline’s vision that if you’re involved in harm reduction,
whether as a professional, peer or service provider, you’re able to ‘develop
your knowledge and skills’ in order to further promote the human rights and
health of people who use drugs. This belief underlies our trainer-of-trainer
programme.
We are also in the process of training our second group, so expect
to hear about the next group of graduates in the Autumn of 2020. | |
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 | | Training on methamphetamine for Indonesian health care workers | With the support of Mainline, a training for health care workers took
place in Indonesia in early November 2019. The goal of the training was
to strengthen the capacity of doctors and nurses to address mental health needs
among people who use methamphetamine. Medical staff from over 12 community health
centres across Jakarta attended.
The training, which
was delivered by Mainline’s partner Karisma, was co-created with Atma Jaya
University. The Indonesian Ministry of Health and the District Health office
co-hosted the meeting.
Read more about the training. | |
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 | | Mainline visited ICASA 2019 in Rwanda | The 20th International Conference on AIDS and STI’s in Africa (ICASA) took place in Rwanda, between the 2nd and 7th of December 2019. The theme: An AIDS Free Africa through Innovation, Community and Political Leadership.
ICASA was chaired, hosted and attended by leaders from different African countries as well as different representatives from governmental, non-governmental, and academic institutions. There were over also 8000 delegates from 152 countries, including Mainline's Muna and representatives for our partners from Kenya (MEWA) and South Africa (TB HIV Care).
Read more about the conference here.
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 | | Poppi Podcast (in Dutch) and a New Year’s meet-up | Under the
umbrella of Poppi: Drugs Museum Amsterdam, we've officially launched our
very first Poppi Podcast! In this pilot, we take the listeners through an
introduction of Poppi, we explain what we are currently working on and what some of our
donators and friends say about us...
This is the first of hopefully many episodes to come. We welcome your feedback
and ideas for the next editions. Enjoy!
Click here to listen: (it is in Dutch)
Please also keep an eye on Poppi’s agenda. In case you missed our ‘sensory evening’ about drugs and spirituality,
you can join us on 15 January for a special new year
meet-up. We will celebrate the start of 2020 by piloting our very first 360
virtual reality documentary and by playing a serious game about the regulation
of xtc. We hope to see you in the Nieuwe
Anita, Amsterdam.
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