HIV prevention and psychoactive drug use: a research agenda.
Much has been learned about how to prevent HIV infection among psychoactive drug users in the last 25 years, but, worldwide, the problems of drug-use-related HIV transmission have increased during this time. We consider the need for additional research on four aspects of drug use-related HIV transmission: (1) why evidence-based effective prevention programmes have not been implemented, (2) HIV infection among ethnic minority drug users, (3) relationships--or lack of relationships--between individual risk behaviour and HIV infection and (4) reducing drug use-related sexual transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). These topics were selected because we see them as critical for reducing HIV transmission among drug users (topics 1 and 4), reducing health disparities among racial and ethnic groups of drug users (topic 2), and understanding HIV epidemiology and evaluating prevention programmes for drug users (topic 3).
Des Jarlais
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Beth Israel Medical Center/CDI, 160 Water Street, New York, NY 10038, USA. dcdesjarla@aol.com
Semaan
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D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000379:methods; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D012309:Risk-Taking; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D047568:Unsafe Sex / Q000517:prevention & control