When grammars collide

Harm reduction, drug detention and the challenges of international policy reform efforts in Vietnam

Datos Bibliográficos

ID15540596
AutoresC Edington (0000-0001-8839-7468, Columbia University, autor de correspondencia), Ronald Bayer (Columbia University)
Año2013
Volumen8
Númerosup1
PáginasS75-S91
Fecha de publicación2013-01-30
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaGlobal Public Health (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1744-1692 • E-ISSN: 1744-1706
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17441692.2012.763045
PMID23363324
OpenAlexW2045045757
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas9
Referencias citadas9

Throughout the 1990s, a dramatic rise in HIV prevalence rates among drug users in Vietnam attracted the attention of international observers concerned about the prospect of a more generalised epidemic. Vietnam subsequently became the target of extensive funding and advocacy which sought to introduce needle exchange and methadone in a country where drug use was considered a 'social evil', and drug users were subjected to what international observers viewed as draconian incarceration measures. What were the goals of proponents of harm reduction when they came to Vietnam? How did they perceive the state of prevailing approaches to drug users in the context of the Vietnamese HIV epidemic? How did they understand the strategic challenges they faced and the dilemmas they had to confront? Based on in-depth interviews with international harm reduction proponents working in Vietnam, this paper explores the encounter of two grammars of harm reduction, one based on broadly accepted international approaches, the other rooted in Vietnam's own history and politics. From this encounter a set of policies and practices characterised by needle exchange and methadone maintenance emerged, as well as an extensive network of closed centres where tens of thousands of drug users are currently detained

Context (archaeology · Criminology · Economic growth · Economics · Family medicine · Geography · Harm · Harm reduction · Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV · Methadone · Methadone maintenance · Political science · Politics · Psychiatry · Public relations · Sociology · Vietnamese · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk · HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions · Law · Medicine · Sex work and related issues