Director-General/Executive Director
Minister Forssmed,
Ambassador Markovic,
Mr. Berdzuli,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to thank Sweden for hosting this important event because every death from drug overdose is one too many.
According to the most recent data, 29 percent of drug overdoses were women.
Although more men die of overdoses, women are dying at a much faster rate. Between 2008 and 2017, opioid-related deaths increased by 63 percent among men, and by 92 percent among women.
We must do everything we can to stop this tragic loss of life.
And our responses must recognize that women confront different challenges and have different needs than men.
Women face greater stigma and more discrimination for using drugs than men do.
Women also have more limited access to prevention and management services for drug use and HIV. For example, even though almost one in two amphetamine users are women, less than one in five people in treatment for amphetamines are women.
In my own country, Egypt, 27 percent of drug users are women yet they account for less than 5 percent of those receiving treatment for drug use.
Globally, the situation is even worse for women in the criminal justice system, where 35 percent of women in prison are there for drug-related offenses versus only 19 percent of incarcerated men.
Drug use disorders and HIV infection are also more prevalent among women in prison than among men.
According to UNODC’s most recent data, in 2019, 51 percent of women entered prison with drug use disorders, compared to 30 percent of men.
And according to the 2021 UNAIDS Update on HIV in Prisons, 5.2 percent of women have HIV compared with 2.9 percent of men.
Unfortunately drug use prevention and management services available in prisons are usually inferior to their community-based counterparts.
This disparity in services is especially concerning because the risk of fatal drug overdose is 40 times higher in the first two weeks after release from prison compared to the general population.
Closing these gaps requires tailoring overdose prevention and drug use interventions to the needs of women and ensuring that they have access to the services they need.
It also requires a review of priorities, the allocation of resources, and addressing stigma.
In practice, this means providing non-judgmental, gender-sensitive drug treatment and care services that also address the many other challenges that women who use drugs often face – from childcare responsibilities to gender-based violence to mental health issues.
Since opioids cause the majority of drug overdoses, we need to support opioid agonist therapy for both women and men. The evidence is conclusive that it is an effective treatment for opioid disorders and for preventing overdoses, as well as for preventing HIV and hepatitis C.
Finally, we need alternatives to incarceration for minor drug offenses. Health and social services can go a long way in protecting the health of women and men who use drugs or have drug use disorders, while also reducing prison overcrowding, recidivism and crime and promoting public health.
UNODC is working with more than 30 Member States globally to improve drug treatment and care, as well as HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment for people who use drugs or have drug use disorders, including in prison settings. Our work is based on scientific evidence and many of our interventions already address the unique needs of women.
As an example of good practice, Morocco prioritizes women for methadone treatment to prevent drug injection-related HIV transmission and to contribute to their social rehabilitation and empowerment by addressing social exclusion, stigma and discrimination.
UNODC is piloting HIV prevention, treatment and care services in Tangier to help adapt Morocco’s health and social services for injecting drug users to the specific needs of women, especially those who have children or are pregnant. Our eventual aim is to expand these services nationally.
And Egypt provides HIV prevention and health services to over 10,000 incarcerated women and their children. It is in the process of introducing opioid agonist therapy.
But we need to do much more to remove stigmas and barriers to services for women who use drugs. We need to join forces and step up our investment. UNODC is ready and willing to do its part. I invite you all to join us.
Thank you.