Harm reduction emphasises short-term pragmatic goals, recognising that long-term idealistic goals are difficult to achieve. The efforts to prevent rapid HIV transmission need to begin as quickly as possible. The explosive spread of HIV infection among people who inject drugs and their sexual partners must be prevented first or the longer-term goals of abstinence and vocational rehabilitation are meaningless. Prevention activities are best begun before the prevalence of HIV among people who inject drugs is greater than five percent in order to prevent a rapid rise in HIV.
Principle two: hierarchy of risks
It is good to establish a hierarchy of risks for avoiding HIV infection from drug use:
1. Stop or never start using drugs. 2. If you use drugs, avoid injecting them.
3. If you inject, do not share injection supplies( e. g., needles, cookers / spoons or filters) with others to avoid blood borne viruses such as HIV and hepatitis C. Use new injecting equipment every time!
4. If you need to re-use any equipment, use your own injecting equipment every time to avoid viral infections such as HIV and hepatitis C.
5. If you need to re-use any equipment, including someone else’ s equipment( needle or equipment sharing), clean needles by bleaching syringes. Remember there is some risk of HIV transmission after needle cleaning and there is no known way to kill the Hep C virus thus far, but cleaning in an approved manner will reduce the likelihood of transmission.