The purpose of this study was to document the prevalence of hepatitis C among MMT patients, hepatitis C virus (HCV) knowledge of patients and MMT staff members, and the barriers preventing them from receiving ...
Authors: Zhi-Bin Li, Lei Zhang, Jun Wang, Le-Ping Huang, Zhi-Rong Zhou, Yi-Ning Cao, Min Zhao and Jiang Du
Harm reduction refers to interventions aimed at reducing the negative effects of health behaviors without necessarily extinguishing the problematic health behaviors completely. The vast majority of the harm re...
Authors: Mary Hawk, Robert W. S. Coulter, James E. Egan, Stuart Fisk, M. Reuel Friedman, Monique Tula and Suzanne Kinsky
People who inject drugs (PWID) take on significant risks of contracting blood-borne infection, including injecting with a large number of partners and acquiring needles from unsafe sources. When combined, risk...
Authors: Ian Duncan, Patrick Habecker, Roberto Abadie, Ric Curtis, Bilal Khan and Kirk Dombrowski
As postsecondary students’ use of “study drugs” becomes more popular with increasingly reported negative effects on health and academic performance, failing prohibitionist policies to reduce consumption, and a...
Although opioid-dependent patients are disproportionately impacted by hepatitis C (HCV), many do not receive treatment. In addition to HCV treatment-access barriers, substance-using patients may be reluctant t...
Authors: A. W. Batchelder, L. Cockerham-Colas, D. Peyser, S. P. Reynoso, I. Soloway and A. H. Litwin
In Hong Kong, methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) was launched in the 1970s, almost 30 years before the counterpart programme’s inauguration in Mainland China. Both were established in response to perceived ...
Pharmacies are an important source of sterile syringes for people who inject drugs (PWID) in Tajikistan who are under high risk of HIV and hepatitis C virus. Accessibility of sterile syringes at pharmacies wit...
Authors: Umedjon Ibragimov, Hannah L. Cooper, Regine Haardörfer, Kristin L. Dunkle, William A. Zule and Frank Y. Wong
Methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) is a mainstay for treating opioid use disorder and preventing and managing HIV among people who inject drugs (PWID). While previous research suggested low dosing of methadon...
Authors: Kanna Hayashi, Lianping Ti, Prempreeda Pramoj Na Ayutthaya, Paisan Suwannawong, Karyn Kaplan, Will Small and Thomas Kerr
Persons who use opioids have a high risk of overdose and associated mortality. In Vietnam, little is known about the characteristics of this population and the persons who are witness to those overdoses. One a...
Authors: N.A. Blackburn, K.E. Lancaster, T.V. Ha, C.A. Latkin, W.C. Miller, C. Frangakis, V.A. Chu, T. Sripaipan, V.M. Quan, N.L. Minh, P.T. Vu and V.F. Go
In December 2016, the Surgeon General published a report that concluded e-cigarette use among youth and young adults is becoming a major public health concern in the United States of America.
Authors: Riccardo Polosa, Christopher Russell, Joel Nitzkin and Konstantinos E. Farsalinos
Treatment resistant cluster headache and migraine patients are exploring alternative treatments online. The aim of this study was to improve comprehension regarding the use of non-established or alternative ph...
Authors: Martin Andersson, Mari Persson and Anette Kjellgren
Vietnam began providing methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) in 2008; as of June 2016, 44,479 persons who inject drugs (PWID) were in treatment in 57 provinces. However, 10–23% of patients were estimated to hav...
Authors: Pham Minh Khue, Nguyen Thi Tham, Dinh Thi Thanh Mai, Pham Van Thuc, Vu Minh Thuc, Pham Van Han and Christina Lindan
North America is currently in the grips of a crisis rooted in the use of licit and illicit opioid-based analgesics. Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in Canada and the US, and the growing ...
People who inject drugs (PWID) frequently engage in injection risk behaviours exposing them to blood-borne infections. Understanding the underlying causes that drive various types and levels of risk behaviours...
Authors: Niklas Karlsson, Michele Santacatterina, Kerstin Käll, Maria Hägerstrand, Susanne Wallin, Torsten Berglund and Anna Mia Ekström
Patients with substance use disorders grow older thanks to effective treatments. Together with a high prevalence of comorbidities, psychological problems, and low social support, these patients are at high ris...
Authors: Samuel S. Allemann, Kenneth M. Dürsteler, Johannes Strasser, Marc Vogel, Marcel Stoeckle, Kurt E. Hersberger and Isabelle Arnet
Studies on contraceptive use by patients with substance use disorders (SUD) show a concerning low use of contraception. Mainly conducted in USA, they could be irrelevant to patients attending European SUD trea...
Youth substance use programming and educational strategies are frequently informed by prevention approaches that emphasize abstinence goals, which often do not resonate with youth in their lack of acknowledgme...
Authors: Emily K. Jenkins, Allie Slemon and Rebecca J. Haines-Saah
Given the current opioid crisis around the world, harm reduction agencies are seeking to help people who use drugs to do so more safely. Many harm reduction agencies are exploring techniques to test illicit dr...
The history of harm reduction in the USA has led to the development of some of the most important methods for treating persons for drug use disorders, such as methadone and buprenorphine for opiate use disorde...
In Canada, funding, administration, and delivery of health services—including those targeting people who use drugs—are primarily the responsibility of the provinces and territories. Access to harm reduction se...
Authors: Elaine Hyshka, Jalene Anderson-Baron, Kamagaju Karekezi, Lynne Belle-Isle, Richard Elliott, Bernie Pauly, Carol Strike, Mark Asbridge, Colleen Dell, Keely McBride, Andrew Hathaway and T. Cameron Wild
Gambling has quickly emerged as an important global public health issue. With new technologies used to develop high intensity gambling products and promotions aimed at driving consumption, public health organi...
Authors: Samantha L. Thomas, Melanie Randle, Amy Bestman, Hannah Pitt, Steven J. Bowe, Sean Cowlishaw and Mike Daube
There is good evidence to suggest that performance and image enhancing drug (PIED) use is increasing in Australia and that there is an increase in those using PIEDs who have never used another illicit substanc...
Authors: Boden Tighe, Matthew Dunn, Fiona H. McKay and Timothy Piatkowski
The Golden Crescent region of South Asia—comprising Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan—is a principal global site for opium production and distribution. Over the past few decades, war, terrorism, and a shifting p...
Authors: Syeda Ayesha Farooq, Mohammad Hafiz Rasooly, Syed Hani Abidi, Kayvon Modjarrad and Syed Ali
Supervised injection services (SIS) have been shown to reduce the public- and individual-level harms associated with injection drug use. While SIS feasibility research has been conducted in large urban centres...
Authors: Sanjana Mitra, Beth Rachlis, Ayden Scheim, Geoff Bardwell, Sean B. Rourke and Thomas Kerr
In 2015, the Australian government launched the media campaign Ice Destroys Lives targeting crystal methamphetamine use. Previous research indicates mass media campaigns may have harmful effects for people engage...
Authors: Caitlin H. Douglass, Elizabeth C. Early, Cassandra J. C. Wright, Anna Palmer, Peter Higgs, Brendan Quinn, Paul M. Dietze and Megan S. C. Lim
New, more effective and better-tolerated therapies for hepatitis C (HCV) have made the elimination of HCV a feasible objective. However, for this to be achieved, it is necessary to have a detailed understandin...
Authors: Ryan Buchanan, Salim I. Khakoo, Jonathan Coad, Leonie Grellier and Julie Parkes
Kyrgyzstan, where HIV is concentrated in prisons and driven by injection drug use, provides a prison-based methadone maintenance therapy program as well as abstinence-oriented therapeutic community based on th...
Authors: Lyuba Azbel, Julia Rozanova, Ingo Michels, Frederick L. Altice and Heino Stöver
Authors: Claire E. Kendall, Lisa M. Boucher, Amy E. Mark, Alana Martin, Zack Marshall, Rob Boyd, Pam Oickle, Nicola Diliso, Dave Pineau, Brad Renaud, Tiffany Rose, Sean LeBlanc, Mark Tyndall, Olivia M. Lee and Ahmed M. Bayoumi
Citation:Harm Reduction Journal
2017
14:42
Published on: 3 July 2017
The
original article was published in Harm Reduction Journal
2017
14:16
Personal networks are significant social spaces to spread of HIV or other blood-borne infections among hard-to-reach population, viz., injecting drug users, female sex workers, etc. Sharing of infected needles...
Authors: Sanjib Kumar Phukan, Gajendra Kumar Medhi, Jagadish Mahanta, Rajatashuvra Adhikary, Gay Thongamba, Ramesh S. Paranjape and Brogen S. Akoijam
Women who inject drugs (WWID) are at heightened risk for HIV due to biological, behavioral, and structural factors. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) could aid in HIV prevention for WWID. However, little is know...
Authors: Suzan M. Walters, Kathleen H. Reilly, Alan Neaigus and Sarah Braunstein
Harm reduction interventions in Cambodia face numerous obstacles because of conflicting understanding and interests and inconsistencies in the implementation by law enforcement officials. This study aims to ex...
Authors: Sovannary Tuot, Chanrith Ngin, Khuondyla Pal, Sochenda Sou, Ghazal Sawez, Phylicia Morgan, Mony Srey, Tola Chan, Pheak Chhoun, Olga Golichenko, Sok Chamreun Choub and Siyan Yi
WHO, UNODC, and UNAIDS recommend a comprehensive package for prevention, treatment, and care of HIV among people who inject drugs (PWID). We describe the uptake of services and the cost of implementing a compr...
Authors: Mary Philip Sebastian, Aparajita Dasgupta, Lopamudra Ray Saraswati, Asha Singh, Vartika Sharma, Ira Madan, Waimar Tun, Julie Pulerwitz, Ibou Thior and Avina Sarna
Harm reduction policies and attitudes in the United States have advanced substantially in recent years but still lag behind more advanced jurisdictions in Europe and elsewhere. The Obama administration, partic...
Stigma, criminalisation and a lack of data on drug use contribute to the “invisibility” of people who inject drugs (PWID) and make HIV prevention and treatment service delivery challenging. We aimed to confirm...
Authors: Andrew Scheibe, Shaun Shelly, Andrew Lambert, Andrea Schneider, Rudolf Basson, Nelson Medeiros, Kalvanya Padayachee, Helen Savva and Harry Hausler
Take home naloxone (THN) programs reduce mortality by training bystanders to respond to opioid overdoses. Clinical observation by the health care team at the Inner City Youth (ICY) program indicated that young...
Authors: Keren Mitchell, S. Elise Durante, Katrina Pellatt, Chris G. Richardson, Steve Mathias and Jane A. Buxton
The HIV epidemic among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Russia continues to spread. This exploratory study examines how HIV-prevention measures are perceived and experienced by PWID in the northwestern region...
Authors: Peter Meylakhs, Aadne Aasland and Arne Grønningsæter
Injection drug use is associated with HIV and hepatitis C transmission, overdose, and other preventable harms. These harms are heightened for structurally vulnerable injection drug-using populations, as their ...
Authors: Jade Boyd, Danya Fast, Megan Hobbins, Ryan McNeil and Will Small
Housing First is an evidence-based practice intended to serve chronically homeless individuals with co-occurring serious mental illness and substance use disorders. Despite housing active substance users, harm...
Authors: Dennis P. Watson, Valery Shuman, James Kowalsky, Elizabeth Golembiewski and Molly Brown
Canada has long contended with harms arising from injection drug use. In response to epidemics of HIV infection and overdose in Vancouver in the mid-1990s, a range of actors advocated for the creation of super...
Authors: Thomas Kerr, Sanjana Mitra, Mary Clare Kennedy and Ryan McNeil
This article highlights the experiences of a peer-run group, SALOME/NAOMI Association of Patients (SNAP), that meets weekly in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. SNAP is a unique ind...
Authors: Susan Boyd, Dave Murray and Donald MacPherson
Little is known about access to health insurance among people who inject drugs (PWID) who attend syringe exchange programs (SEPs). The goal of the current study was to assess perceptions of SEP staff, includin...
Authors: Thomas J. Stopka, Marguerite Hutcheson and Ashley Donahue
Previous research on the effectiveness of needle exchange programs (NEP) in preventing hepatitis C virus (HCV) in people who inject drugs (PWID) has shown mixed findings. The purpose of this study was to use t...
Authors: Stephen M. Davis, Shay Daily, Alfgeir L. Kristjansson, George A. Kelley, Keith Zullig, Adam Baus, Danielle Davidov and Melanie Fisher
Syringe sharing is a high-risk practice associated with the transmission of infectious diseases, such as HIV and HCV. While youth who contend with housing instability are known to be more likely to engage in h...
Authors: Andreas Pilarinos, Mary Clare Kennedy, Ryan McNeil, Huiru Dong, Thomas Kerr and Kora DeBeck
The majority of Americans with opioid use disorder remain out of treatment. Operating in 33 states, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico, harm reduction agencies, which provide sterile syringes and other health serv...
Authors: Aaron D. Fox, Nancy L. Sohler, Taeko Frost, Carolina Lopez and Chinazo O. Cunningham
People who smoke crack cocaine experience a wide variety of health-related issues. However, public health programming designed for this population is limited, particularly in comparison with programming for pe...
There is a need for creative, public health-oriented solutions to the increasingly intractable problems associated with the North American opioid epidemic. This epidemic is a fundamentally continental problem,...
Authors: Devesh Vashishtha, Maria Luisa Mittal and Daniel Werb
