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 .