ABSTRACT
"Harm reduction" is a concept that is difficult to define with any degree of precision. In many parts of the world, the appearance of HIV has led to a widespread intensifying of commitments to harm reduction approaches to drug use. This chapter focuses on what constitutes harm reduction in Brazil, reviews some of Brazil's experiences with harm reduction, and examines some of the issues associated with implementing harm reduction initiatives in developing nations. Due to the legal issues surrounding needle/syringe exchange and communications from the federal police denouncing such activities, however, the distribution of needles/syringes has been intermittent. Legal dimensions of the harm reduction movement are somewhat irrelevant in the Brazilian context. Accessibility to other harm reduction strategies is also a problem in Brazil. Drug abuse treatment is frequently restricted to a few religious institutions without the resources to meet the demand, and to private clinics, which are expensive and therefore not accessible to the majority of injection drug users.
