BACKGROUND Vancouver, Canada recently opened a medically supervised injecting facility (SIF) where injection drug users (IDU) can inject pre-obtained illicit drugs. Critics suggest that the facility does not help IDU to reduce their drug use. METHODS We conducted retrospective and prospective database linkages with residential detoxification facilities and used generalized estimating equation...

Given the rapid spread of the HIV epidemic and the need to control its transmission among intravenous drug users (IDU), harm reduction strategies have been incorporated in many countries, including Brazil. Considering these aspects and taking into account the emergence of drugs as a core concern on the government's agenda, especially crack cocaine, this article presents some of the contribution...

BACKGROUND Despite Thailand's official reclassification of drug users as "patients" deserving care and not "criminals," the Thai government has continued to rely heavily on punitive responses to drug use such as "boot camp"-style compulsory "treatment" centers. There is very little research on experiences with compulsory treatment centers among people who use drugs. The work reported here is a ...

BACKGROUND Older HIV patients are defined as aged 50 years and older. This group is a growing population in developed countries. In order to improve care for older HIV patients, we intended to gain insight into the specific features of transmission, epidemiology, immunology and antiretroviral treatment (ART) of this population. PATIENTS AND METHODS All patients from the RESINA cohort were ana...

background: hepatitis c (hcv) is increasing worldwide including iran. hcv is more prevalent among intravenous drug abusers (idu), especially if imprisoned, mostly due to needle sharing. we determined the rate of hcv seropositivity among idu prisoners and compared it with those of non prisoners. materials and methods: a cross-sectional survey was done on consenting idu inhabiting two prisons and...