From the trends of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemics in South and Southeast Asia, it was postulated that an HIV epidemic would start as a blood-borne infection among injecting-drug users in the Philippines. In 2002, 560 individuals were recruited in Metro Cebu, Philippines and tested for HIV, hepatitis C virus (HCV), and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections. The seroprevalence of anti-...

conclusions there is a need to train health staff, and the community, concerning preventive measures, treatment, and reducing harm for substance drug users. results among 402 idus patients, a large amount of them were male, single, and younger than 39 years. regarding psychotic and somatic symptoms caused by methadone therapy, most of the participants had no problem with methadone maintenance t...

An estimated 13 million people worldwide inject drugs. Of those, 78 percent live in developing or transitional countries. The sharing of contaminated injecting equipment has become a major driving force of the global AIDS pandemic, and is the primary mode of HIV transmission in many countries throughout Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and significant parts of Asia. In so...

From the trends of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemics in South and Southeast Asia, it was postulated that an HIV epidemic would start as a bloodborne infection among injecting drug users in the Philippines. In 2002, 560 individuals were recruited in Metro Cebu, Philippines and tested for HIV, hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections. Seroprevalence of anti-HCV am...

This study examines patterns of injecting drug use and hepatitis C (HCV) risk behavior among injecting drug users. A survey of injecting drug users attending needle and syringe programs (NSPs) in the Sydney metropolitan area and members of NSW Users and AIDS Association (NUAA) yielded 336 responses. Demographic, behavioral and drug-use information was collected from injecting drug users aged fr...

BACKGROUND Stigma is a key barrier for the delivery of care to patients living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). In the Asia region, the HIV/AIDS epidemic has disproportionately affected socially marginalised groups, in particular, injecting drug users. The effect of the stigmatising attitudes towards injecting drug users on perceptions of PLWHA within the health care contexts has not been thoroughly expl...

Injecting drug users represent a high risk group for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and, in many locations, the majority will test positive for antibody to HCV (anti-HCV) within two years of starting to inject. Although there is evidence of a reduction in rates of unsafe injecting, 3 there is little published research demonstrating that programmes that facilitate safe injecting have reduced ...