Harm reduction

New WHO/Europe report reveals high rates of unprotected sex among adolescents across Europe, with significant implications for health and safety

Sex education is a right of children and adolescents and the state has an obligation to provide it, Deputy Education Minister Domna Michailidou has told Parliament, rejecting claims from an opposition MP that the subject contributes to divorce, suicide and abortion.

Minister of Education Sorin Cimpeanu informs that the ministry assumes the promotion of the compulsory discipline Education for life, which will include several modules, among which: sex education, civic education, health education, healthy eating education, road safety education or first aid education.

Education Minister Sorin Cimpeanu said today that the sexual education curriculum is important and must be included in a modular system under the concept "Education for Life", but that students should be able to withdraw from these courses if their parents do not agree to this; he also noted that there are debates underway on this subject within the ruling coalition.

Romania's parliament on Wednesday scrapped mandatory "sexual education" in the country's schools, bowing to pressure from the powerful Romanian Orthodox Church, which called it an attack on childhood innocence.

Young Bulgarians have used mostly cannabis in the last year, but heroin sends the most people to clinics, according to the annual report of the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).

Greek Parliament on Thursday voted to open supervised drug consumption sites where people can use drugs with sterile injection equipment under the supervision of trained staff.
The legislation, presented by the health ministry, was voted with 229 votes in favour, 32 against and one "present".

Residents in the downtown Athens areas of Kypseli, Pedion tou Areos, Votanikos, Plaka, Exarchia, Kolonaki and other neighborhoods have sent a letter to the government and the municipal authority protesting plans for the creation of areas where habitual drug users will be able to safely inject narcotics under the supervision of trained staff.

The Greek ministry of health is preparing an amendment that will open the way for the creation of supervised drug consumption facilities in Athens.

These spaces will provide addicts with sterile materials to use illicit drugs under the strict supervision of trained staff, in a hygienic environment.