background: despite the availability of an effective vaccine for more than three decades, hbv (hepatitis b virus) continues to infect many people worldwide, particularly in developing countries of asia. in older people at higher risk of infection, high prevalence of hbv may exist, particularly among intravenous drug users (idus). this group is among groups at higher risk of infection as they sh...

In 2005, members of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) formed the Injection Support Team (IST). A community-based research project examined this drug-user-led intervention through observation of team activities, over 30 interviews with team members, and 9 interviews with people reached by the team. The IST is composed of recognized "hit doctors," who perform outreach in the open d...

BACKGROUND Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a traditional harmful practice that can cause severe physical and psychological damages to girls and women. Increasingly, trained health-care providers carry out the practice at the request of families. It is important to understand the motivations of providers in order to reduce the medicalization of FGM. This integrative review identifies, apprais...

Substance-using women who exchange sex for money, drugs or shelter as a means of basic subsistence (ie. survival sex) have remained largely at the periphery of HIV and harm reduction policies and services across Canadian cities. This is notwithstanding global evidence of the multiple harms faced by this population, including high rates of violence and poverty, and enhanced vulnerabilities to HI...

BACKGROUND Heroin injection is emerging as a significant dimension of the HIV epidemic in Kenya. Preventing transitions to injecting drug use from less harmful forms of use, such as smoking, is a potentially important focus for HIV prevention. There is, however, little evidence to support comprehensive programming in this area, linked to a shortage of analysis of the social and structural conte...

AIMS To examine cannabis use among mid-adolescents in 31 countries and associations with per-capita personal consumer expenditure (PCE), unemployment, peer factors and national rates of cannabis use in 1999. DESIGN, PARTICIPANTS AND MEASUREMENT: Nationally representative, self-report, classroom survey with 22 223 male and 24 900 female 15-year-olds. Country characteristics were derived from pub...

Over the last few years, online gambling has become a more common leisure time activity. However, for a small minority, the activity can become problematic. Consequently, the gambling industry has started to acknowledge their role in player protection and harm minimization and some gambling companies have introduced responsible gambling tools as a way of helping players stay in control. The pre...

BACKGROUND Grounded in a community-based participatory research (CBPR) framework, the PROUD (Participatory Research in Ottawa: Understanding Drugs) Study aims to better understand HIV risk and prevalence among people who use drugs in Ottawa, Ontario. The purpose of this paper is to describe the establishment of the PROUD research partnership. METHODS PROUD relies on peers' expertise stemming ...