Anova Health Institute’s harm reduction initiatives for people who use drugs

Abstract Chemsex is the colloquial term used for a specific pattern of drug use that is increasingly common among men who have sex with men (MSM) globally. The recreational substances employed are used specifically in a sexualized context. The reasons for chemsex among MSM are complex. The Anova Health Institute (Anova) provided harm-reduction services in Cape Town, South Africa in 2013 and 2014. This project, known as Tikking the Boxes had two objectives: first to provide direct harm-reduction services to drug-using MSM in Cape Town, South Africa, and second, to reduce HIV and hepatitis B and C transmission among this population. This was done by identifying drug-using behaviour among MSM and linking them to harm-reduction services. Employing people who were currently using drugs was a novel aspect of this program, and successfully facilitated access to MSM drug-using networks. At the launch of the project, the concept of harm reduction was easily misunderstood by MSM. Another challenge was that the harm-reduction service, encompassing needle exchange, excluded opioid substitution therapy. People who use drugs were employed as outreach workers, requiring the project to be very flexible and adaptable to sometimes complex lives and difficult-to-reach peers. JAB SMART is Anova’s new harm-reduction initiative and started in May 2017, with support from the City of Johannesburg Health Department, and is the first project of its kind in the city to provide harm-reduction services to people who inject drugs (PWID) and their sexual partners.