»ACTIVITIES
The principle objective of the programme is for the Serbian government to recognise harm reduction as a public health priority. MdM continues its support of the local association VEZA in its needle exchange programme and the outreach activities carried out by its information and prevention minibus. To complement this programme, MdM is working towards lobbying for the creation of a primary healthcare centre, with the objective of opening a medical unit specialising in addiction and the integration of patients on opiate substitution treatment. In July 2008 the NGO VEZA was granted three years’ funding from the Dutch ministry of foreign affairs, and this will allow them to consolidate their role as an NGO, vigourously campaigning for harm reduction in Serbia.
»OUTLOOK
An extension of the programme for six months is forecast, starting from January 2009, strictly dependant on new funding from ECHO. This extension aims at monitoring malnutrition in children from 6 to 59 months and to accompany families in need, forced out of temporary shelters, and whose situation remains extremely precarious.

»ACTIVITIES
Thanks to the harm reduction programme in Belgrade the methadone project, developed by MdM and the Savski Venac health centre, expects to facilitate drug users’ access to opiate substitution treatment by the opening of a methadone centre in Belgrade. In 2008, the activity consisted only of running an awareness-raising campaign that aimed to fill the existing legal gap for methadone use in primary health care centres. By using new procedures and advocating on behalf of drug users during the decision making process, MdM has received recognition of the efficacy of the programme from the health authorities and the legal basis necessary for its roll out.
»OUTLOOK
The opiate substitution outreach programme focuses on the renovation and the equipping of existing structures, on the creation of a psychosocial and medical service and on the training of health professionals delivering primary health care. Eventually the project aims to develop cooperation between institutions, NGOs, the EU and Serbia by way of sharing knowledge and the creation of a network of people concerned with substitution therapies.