HIV drug link threat warning

Monday March 1st, 2010

Not many countries are offering adequate services to prevent drug users contracting HIV - and they are missing a chance to stem the spread of the virus, researchers warn today.

As many as ten per cent of those with HIV are drug users who self-inject - a process which places them at risk of catching viruses.

Nearly 16 million people worldwide are injecting drug users and in Russia and eastern Europe the problem is the main source of the AIDS epidemic.

Programmes which provide clean needles as well as condoms and treatment for drug addiction and HIV can help stop the spread of the disease.

But just eight per cent of those at risk have used these programmes globally in the last year, according to the report in The Lancet. And just four per cent of those who have contracted HIV are getting treatment.

The best countries are the Czech Republic and Ireland, where it is thought that almost all those people at risk received support.

The worst countries are said to be China, Malaysia and Thailand.

Researcher Bradley Mathers, of the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, said: "HIV prevention treatment and care services for injecting drug users are clinically effective, but to exert a population level effect they need to be delivered to scale. Our findings suggest that, worldwide, there are few countries in which the level of intervention coverage is sufficient to prevent HIV transmission."

The problem is to be debated at a conference in Liverpool, UK, next month.

Professor Gerry Stimson, Executive Director of the International Harm Reduction Association, which has organised the conference, said: "It will take real international leadership, starting at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs Meeting starting next week and a considerable scale up of financial resources to change this dangerous state of affairs.

He added: "If governments cannot agree to universal support for harm reduction interventions, we must begin to ask whether the drug control system is doing more harm than good."

"HIV prevention, treatment, and care services for people who inject drugs: a systematic review of global, regional, and national coverage." The Lancet March 1 2010

Tags: Asia | Australia | Drug and Alcohol Abuse | Europe | Flu & Viruses | UK News | World Health

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