Memory of policies and practices in harm reduction: An interview with Fatima Machado

Abstract

This interview addresses the trajectory of harm reduction policies and practices in Brazil, in the words of harm reducer Fatima Machado. Harm reduction emerged in the 1980s in Europe, it began in Brazil in 1989 as a strategy to prevent aids among injection drug users, and then diversified and expanded. This interview focuses on the early years of developing these innovative practices and questions their current developments. Fatima Machado was one of the precursors working in the field and in activism for harm reduction in Brazil, and one of the founders of the Brazilian Association of Harm Reducers.