Editing Harm reduction (section)

===Sex-work and HIV===

Despite the depth of knowledge of HIV/AIDS, rapid transmission has occurred globally in sex workers.<ref name="pmid11251723" /> The relationship between these two variables greatly increases the risk of transmission among these populations, and also to anyone associated with them, such as their sexual partners, their children, and eventually the population at large.<ref name="pmid11251723" />

Many street-level harm-reduction strategies have succeeded in reducing HIV transmission in [[injecting drug user]]s and sex-workers.<ref name="pmid16360791" /> HIV education, HIV testing, condom use, and safer-sex negotiation greatly decreases the risk to the disease.<ref name="pmid16360791" /><ref>{{Cite report|last=Phasuk |first=Sunai |year=2004 |title=Thailand, not enough graves: the war on drugs, HIV/AIDS, and violations of human rights |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2004/07/07/not-enough-graves/war-drugs-hiv/aids-and-violations-human-rights |url-status=live |publisher=Human Rights Watch |oclc=56024188 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204203850/https://www.hrw.org/report/2004/07/07/not-enough-graves/war-drugs-hiv/aids-and-violations-human-rights |archive-date=4 December 2023 |access-date=8 July 2022}}</ref> Peer education as a harm reduction strategy has especially reduced the risk of HIV infection, such as in Chad, where this method was the most cost-effective per infection prevented.<ref name="pmid16360791" />

Decriminalisation as a harm-reduction strategy gives the ability to treat substance use disorder solely as a public health issue rather than a criminal activity. This enables other harm-reduction strategies to be employed, which results in a lower incidence of HIV infection.<ref name="pmid163607913">{{Cite journal |last=Rekart ML |date=December 2005 |title=Sex-work harm reduction |journal=Lancet |volume=366 |issue=9503 |pages=2123–2134 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(05)67732-X |pmid=16360791 |s2cid=11448309}}</ref>

One of the first harm reduction models was called the "Mersey Harm Reduction Model" in 1980s Liverpool, and the success of utilizing outreach workers, distribution of education, and providing clean equipment to drug users was shown in the fact that an HIV epidemic did not happen in Mersey.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=O’Hare |first=Pat |date=March 2007 |title=Merseyside, the first harm reduction conferences, and the early history of harm reduction |journal=International Journal of Drug Policy |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=141–144 |doi=10.1016/j.drugpo.2007.01.003 |pmid=17689357}}</ref>

The AIDS epidemic, which began in the 80s and peaked in 1995, further complicated the politicization of drug users and drug use in the US. The implementation of harm reduction faced much resistance within the US due to the demonization of particular drugs associated with stigmatized groups, such as sex workers and drug-injecting users.<ref>{{Cite report |title=HIV/AIDS – 2011 |last=Indian Social Institute |year=2011 |publisher=Human Rights Documents Online |doi=10.1163/2210-7975_hrd-0510-0080}}</ref>