Category Archives: People who use drugs
Estimating the number of persons who inject drugs in the United States by meta-analysis to calculate national rates of HIV and hepatitis C virus infections
BACKGROUND: Injection drug use provides an efficient mechanism for transmitting bloodborne viruses, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). Effective targeting of resources for prevention of HIV...
Systematic review and meta-analysis of community and facility-based HIV testing to address linkage to care gaps in sub-Saharan Africa
HIV testing and counselling is the first crucial step for linkage to HIV treatment and prevention. However, despite high HIV burden in sub-Saharan Africa, testing coverage is low, particularly among...
Adherence to antiretroviral medications among persons who inject drugs in transitional, low and middle income countries: An international systematic review
Adherence to antiretroviral (ART) medication is vital to reducing morbidity and mortality among HIV positive persons. People who inject drugs (PWID) are at high risk for HIV infection in transitional/low/middle...
The HIV Modes of Transmission model: A systematic review of its findings and adherence to guidelines
INTRODUCTION: The HIV Modes of Transmission (MOT) model estimates the annual fraction of new HIV infections (FNI) acquired by different risk groups. It was designed to guide country-specific HIV prevention...
HIV drug resistance assessment in the Western Pacific region. A systematic review
Antiretroviral therapy is being rapidly scaled-up in Western Pacific region countries. Prevention and assessment of HIV drug resistance is an essential component of successful global antiretroviral therapy scale-up. We performed...
Are needle and syringe programmes associated with a reduction in HIV transmission among people who inject drugs: A systematic review and meta-analysis
BACKGROUND: Needle and syringe programmes (NSP) aim to reduce the risk of HIV by providing people who inject drugs (PWID) with sterile injecting equipment. A recent review of reviews (ROR)...
Can hepatitis C virus prevalence be used as a measure of injection-related human immunodeficiency virus risk in populations of injecting drug users? An ecological analysis
BACKGROUND: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) outbreaks occur among injecting drug users (IDUs), but where HIV is low insight is required into the future risk of increased transmission. The relationship between...
The effectiveness and safety of syringe vending machines as a component of needle syringe programmes in community settings
Syringe vending machines (SVMs) have been introduced in Europe and Australasia as part of the effort to increase the availability of sterile needles and syringes to injecting drug users (IDUs)....
A systematic review of antiretroviral adherence interventions for HIV-infected people who use drugs
HIV-infected persons who use drugs (PWUDs) are particularly vulnerable for suboptimal combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) adherence. A systematic review of interventions to improve cART adherence and virologic outcomes among HIV-infected...
