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| Trustees Mark Goldstein BSc Adrian Garfoot MD - Andria Efthimiou-Mordaunt MSc |
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| Advisory Team |
| Hattie Wells M.A Reverend Kenneth Leech DD RIP |
The John Mordaunt Trust (JMT) was set up in 1996 to honour the memory of John Mordaunt, an AIDS activist. [1]
The John Mordaunt Trust is an advocacy project set up to campaign for the health and human rights of ex/current injectors affected by HIV and other blood-borne infections (BBIs).
John Mordaunt was deported from China alone as a result of his HIV status in 1986; when he had recovered from this trauma, he joined FRONTLINERS, the then-People With AIDS Coalition UK, to fight the human rights of those affected by HIV/AIDS. Mordaunt was a harm reduction activist, who spoke out in the media of drug use as a human right, or at least that drugs users had the right to not be persecuted for substance use.
As an ex-injection drug user (IDU), Mordaunt was aware of the dangers of drug prohibition, including risk of overdose deaths from unknown purity of drugs, fatal blood-borne infections from lack of access to clean injecting equipment, imprisonment, and the collateral damage of crimes committed against others in efforts to access illegal drugs day-in-day-out as well as violence related to drug-deals gone wrong.
After Mordaunt's death, harm reduction measures were extended, allowing activists to test the strength and quality of some drugs, particularly MDMA. Since 2018, the LOOP have been doing this work at events such music festivals.
The John Mordaunt Trust keeps its members informed via a newsletter called The Users Voice.
In June 1998, JMT's founder, Andria Efthimiou (Mordaunt's widow), arranged for the first HIV+ ex-injector, Marsha Burnett, to address the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs about the failures of Global Drug prohibition. Burnett was joined by Omarya Morales, a Columbian Cocalera, whose home had been burnt to the ground by US-driven coca eradication policies.
Harm reduction, or harm minimization, refers to a range of intentional practices and public health policies designed to lessen the negative social and/or physical consequences associated with various human behaviors, both legal and illegal. Harm reduction is used to decrease negative consequences of recreational drug use and sexual activity without requiring abstinence, recognizing that those unable or unwilling to stop can still make positive change to protect themselves and others.
A needle and syringe programme (NSP), also known as needle exchange program (NEP), is a social service that allows injecting drug users (IDUs) to obtain clean and unused hypodermic needles and associated paraphernalia at little or no cost. It is based on the philosophy of harm reduction that attempts to reduce the risk factors for blood-borne diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis.
Needle sharing is the practice of intravenous drug-users by which a needle or syringe is shared by multiple individuals to administer intravenous drugs such as heroin, steroids, and hormones. This is a primary vector for blood-borne diseases which can be transmitted through blood. People who inject drugs (PWID) are at an increased risk for Hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV due to needle sharing practices. From 1933 to 1943, malaria was spread between users in the New York City area by this method. Afterwards, the use of quinine as a cutting agent in drug mixes became more common. Harm reduction efforts including safe disposal of needles, supervised injection sites, and public education may help bring awareness on safer needle sharing practices.
Taiwan's epidemic of HIV/AIDS began with the first case reported in December 1984. On 17 December 1990 the government promulgated the AIDS Prevention and Control Act. On 11 July 2007, the AIDS Prevention and Control Act was renamed the HIV Infection Control and Patient Rights Protection Act.
Drug injection is a method of introducing a drug into the bloodstream via a hollow hypodermic needle, which is pierced through the skin into the body. Intravenous therapy, a form of drug injection, is universally practiced in modernized medical care. As of 2004, there were 13.2 million people worldwide who self-administered injection drugs outside of medical supervision, of which 22% are from developed countries.
The People's Republic of China's first reported AIDS case was identified in 1985 in a dying tourist. In 1989, the first indigenous cases were reported as an outbreak in 146 infected heroin users in Yunnan province, near China's southwest border.
The history of HIV/AIDS in Australia is distinctive, as Australian government bodies recognised and responded to the AIDS pandemic relatively swiftly, with the implementation of effective disease prevention and public health programs, such as needle and syringe programs (NSPs). As a result, despite significant numbers of at-risk group members contracting the virus in the early period following its discovery, Australia achieved and has maintained a low rate of HIV infection in comparison to the rest of the world.
Illicit drug use in Australia is the recreational use of prohibited drugs in Australia. Illicit drugs include illegal drugs, pharmaceutical drugs when used for non-medical purposes, and other substances used inappropriately. According to government and community organisations, the use and abuse, and the illegality, of illicit drugs is a social, health and legal issue that creates an annual illegal market estimated to be worth A$6.7 billion. Estimates made in 2022 place the figure at A$11.3 billion per year.
HIV/AIDS was first detected in Canada in 1982. In 2018, there were approximately 62,050 people living with HIV/AIDS in Canada. It was estimated that 8,300 people were living with undiagnosed HIV in 2018. Mortality has decreased due to medical advances against HIV/AIDS, especially highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).
In Kenya, drug use is an ongoing prevalent issue among those from both rural and urban areas of the country. Drugs such as inhalants, narcotics, and prescription drugs have been abused, resulting in societal issues such as social stigmas, poverty, peer pressure. These issues have had significant repercussions, including increased violence, strain on healthcare services, heightened vulnerability to HIV infection, and chemical dependence. In response, local communities and the national government have undertaken initiatives to tackle these challenges.
Sankalp Rehabilitation Trust is a Mumbai-based NGO that works with the injecting drug using community since 1995, preventing HIV/AIDS through education and needle-exchange programme & disposals. Using a harm reduction approach, they provide services such as abscess management, basic medical care, counseling, and opioid substitution therapy to their clients. In 2008, Sankalp received the Red Ribbon Award from UNAIDS for their efforts.
Flashblood is an intravenous drug administration technique used by recreational drug users in which an individual injects himself with blood extracted from another drug user, most commonly one who has injected heroin. The purpose of the technique is to experience substance intoxication or to help combat symptoms of drug withdrawal. The practice was first documented in an announcement submitted by Sheryl A. McCurdy, et al., in an October 2005 issue of BMJ. First reported to be practiced in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the practice had spread to other areas in East Africa by 2010.
HIV prevention refers to practices that aim to prevent the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV prevention practices may be undertaken by individuals to protect their own health and the health of those in their community, or may be instituted by governments and community-based organizations as public health policies.
Low-threshold treatment programs are harm reduction-based health care centers targeted towards people who use substances. "Low-threshold" programs are programs that make minimal demands on the patient, offering services without attempting to control their intake of drugs, and providing counselling only if requested. Low-threshold programs may be contrasted with "high-threshold" programs, which require the user to accept a certain level of control and which demand that the patient accept counselling and cease all drug use as a precondition of support.
Founded in 1999, Alliance India is a non-governmental organisation operating in partnership with civil society, government and communities to support sustained responses to HIV in India that protect rights and improve health. Complementing the Indian national programme, we build capacity, provide technical support and advocate to strengthen the delivery of effective, innovative, community-based HIV programmes to vulnerable populations: sex workers, men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender people, hijras, people who inject drugs (PWID), and people living with HIV.
Responsible drug use seeks to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks associated with psychoactive drug use. For illegal psychoactive drugs that are not diverted prescription controlled substances, some critics believe that illegal recreational drug use is inherently irresponsible, due to the unpredictable and unmonitored strength and purity of the drugs and the risks of addiction, infection, and other side effects.
Gerry Stimson is a British public health social scientist, emeritus professor at Imperial College London from 2004, and an honorary professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine from 2017. Stimson has over 220 scientific publications mainly on social and health aspects of illicit drug use, including HIV infection. He has sat on numerous editorial boards including AIDS, Addiction, and European Addiction Research, and with Tim Rhodes he was the co-editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Drug Policy from 2000 to 2016. He is one of the global leaders for research on and later advocacy for harm reduction.
Discrimination against drug addicts is a form of discrimination against people who suffer from a drug addiction.
INPUD is an international non-profit organization grouping local groups and collectives of people who use illicit drugs, which aims at "A world where people who use drugs are free to live their lives with dignity." INPUD was founded in 2006 in Vancouver, Canada, and formally launched in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 1 November 2008.
Beth E. Meyerson is an American professor at the University of Arizona with interest in public health. She is best known for her research on public health policy with focus on harm reduction and sexual health. She is a Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson.
Edwards, Griffith (November 1, 2005). Matters of Substance: Drugs--and Why Everyone's a User (Hardcover). Thomas Dunne Books: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-33883-X.
