'Public Health', 'Social Solidarity' and a modern Greek tragedy....

Abstract

First paragraph: We are writing these lines in November 2018; 6 years after the Greek Ministry of Public Health and Social Solidary first issued Health Regulation No GY/39A, which gave the Greek police the power to detain drug users, amongst other groups, for forced HIV testing and compulsory hospitalisation and treatment (where deemed 'appropriate'). The Health Regulation was issued amidst what was deemed a public health emergency. For the first time, the number of new HIV transmissions among people who inject drugs had exceeded the number of new cases reported among men who have sex with men. During the first seven months of 2011, new transmissions among people who inject drugs had increased more than tenfold. By 2012, approximately half of all newly reported HIV transmissions were linked to injecting drug use.