Lancet Study Finds Level Of HIV Services For IDUs 'Is Poor In Many Countries'

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Sat, 03/20/2010 - 10:51am
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A Lancet study performed a systematic review of HIV prevention and treatment services targeting injecting drug users (IDUs) globally based on the availability of "core interventions for IDUs: needle and syringe programmes (NSPs), opioid substitution therapy (OST) and other drug treatment, HIV testing and counselling, antiretroviral therapy (ART), and condom programmes." The authors conclude, "although the number of countries with core HIV prevention services is growing … worldwide, there are few countries in which the level of intervention coverage is sufficient to prevent HIV transmission" (Mathers et al., 3/20).

"HIV continues to spread among IDUs in many different countries, and the need for scaling up prevention and treatment is urgent," according to Lancet comment. The authors recommend "framing the issue in community health-economic terms might be the most useful for immediate policy change. Long-term sustained efforts to protect the health of individuals who use both licit and illicit drugs might require that policy makers acquire a basic scientific understanding of drug use and addiction, and frame policies toward drug users within a public health and human rights perspective" (Jarlais/Arasteh/Gwadz, 3/20).