Harm reduction in São Paulo Brazil – Open Arms / Braços Abertos [Photos]

Slide on impact of “Bracos Abertos” program in Sao Paulo, Brazil. A harm reduction-based and housing-first program to support the health of street-based drug users in Sao Paulo.

These are photos from São Paulo, Brazil in June 2016 related to their innovative program Braços Abertos (“Open Arms”). This was a harm reduction effort aimed to provide housing, job training, jobs, income, and health services to street-based crack users known as Cracolândia or “Cracklands.” You can read more about the program here, as well as the Braços Abertos and other harm reduction efforts in Brazil here.

After the new mayor, João Doria, was sworn in in 2017, the program’s existence has been threatened with the people targeted for arrest and displacement.