title: HIV Testing, Care, and Treatment Among Women Who Use Drugs From a Global Perspective: Progress and Challenges.
abstract: The article reviews data on HIV testing, treatment, and care outcomes for women who use drugs in 5 countries across 5 continents. We chose countries in which the HIV epidemic has, either currently or historically, been fueled by injection and non-injection drug use and that have considerable variation in social structural and drug policies: Argentina, Vietnam, Australia, Ukraine, and the United States. There is a dearth of available HIV care continuum outcome data [ie, testing, linkage, retention, antiretroviral therapy (ART) provision, viral suppression] among women drug users, particularly among noninjectors. Although some progress has been made in increasing HIV testing in this population, HIV-positive women drug users in 4 of the 5 countries have not fully benefitted from ART nor are they regularly engaged in HIV care. Issues such as the criminalization of drug users, HIV-specific criminal laws, and the lack of integration between substance use treatment and HIV primary care play a major role. Strategies that effectively address the pervasive factors that prevent women drug users from engaging in HIV care and benefitting from ART and other prevention services are critical. Future success in enhancing the HIV continuum for women drug users should consider structural and contextual level barriers and promote social, economic, and legal policies that overhaul the many years of discrimination and stigmatization faced by women drug users worldwide. Such efforts must emphasis the translation of policies into practice and approaches to implementation that can help HIV-infected women who use drugs engage at all points of the HIV care continuum.
authors.affiliation: *Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY; †Department of Public Health Sciences, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL; ‡HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies, New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University, New York, NY; §Department of Health Policy and Management, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY; and ‖Department of Epidemiology, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Metsch
authors.forename: Morgan M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Philbin
authors.forename: Carrigan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Parish
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shiu
authors.forename: Jemima A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Frimpong
authors.forename: Le Minh
authors.initials: le M
authors.lastname: Giang
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D014943:Global Health; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D014932:Women's Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*