The theme of the National Drugs Forum for 2019 is ‘Inclusion Health: responding to complex health needs of people who use drugs’. Inclusion health is an emergent approach to policy development, service delivery, and research. It seeks to explain the health impact for those living as part of a vulnerable and excluded population, and to work towards preventing and redressing the consequences of these determinants.

Health and social interventions based on an inclusion-health approach target people who are experiencing or have experienced homelessness, drug use, imprisonment, sex work, mental health difficulties, or other adverse life experiences that have led to social exclusion and marginalisation.

Interventions designed to improve physical and mental health must look beyond singular risk factors such as problematic drug use. They must respond to the multiple and complex needs of socially excluded populations who have common intersecting characteristics and adverse life experiences, such as childhood trauma and poverty.

A research programme based on inclusion health principles will increase awareness of the need for preventive and early intervention approaches, the consequences of extreme inequity, and the importance of structural interventions. These include housing, employment, and legal support in reducing exclusion and supporting recovery.

The National Drugs Forum was fortunate to hear from two speakers who have made important contributions to the concept of inclusion health and the practical implications of configuring our healthcare and other services to meet the needs of our most vulnerable populations. We can now build on this learning and ensure that inclusion health is a key strand in the synthesis of evidence and experience informing the development of effective interventions in Ireland.