Category Archives: Drug use behaviours/harm reduction
HIV and STI testing among Indigenous women and women who inject drugs
2016
Key take-home messages Rates of HIV and other sexually transmitted and bloodborne infections are high among Indigenous women and women who inject drugs. For women who use drugs, centres that...
Chest compressions and rescue breathing when administering naloxone in opioid overdose
2016
Key take-home messages Opioid overdoses cause respiratory failure (a reduction or stop in breathing), which can lead to cardiac arrest. In the event of a suspected opioid overdose, bystanders should...
Engaging law enforcement in harm reduction programs for people who inject drugs
2016
Key take-home messages Injection drug use is a major contributor to the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C in Canada. Laws and policing practices that govern injection drug use influence...
NARCAN® Nasal Spray efficacy for emergency treatment of opioid overdose
2018
Key take-home messages The administration of ready-to-use, needle-free concentrated NARCAN® Nasal Spray (containing 4mg of naloxone hydrochloride in low volume of 0.1 mL) results in pharmacokinetic parameters that either equal...
HIV prevalence and correlations in prisons in different regions of the world: A review article
2018
The prevalence of HIV is substantially higher among prisoners than the general population, while the incidence varies considerably in different regions around the world. If we consider Sub-Saharan Africa as...
Social network and HIV risk behaviors in female sex workers: A systematic review
2018
BACKGROUND: Social network characteristics have an important role in understanding HIV transmission among female sex workers. The purpose of this systematic review was to summarize and critically appraise the existing...
Factors associated with sexual risks and risk of STIs, HIV and other blood-borne viruses among women using heroin and other drugs: A systematic literature review
2018
This systematic literature review identified factors associated with sexual risks related to sexually transmitted infections (STI), HIV and other blood-borne viruses (BBV) among women using heroin and other drugs. The...
Housing and harm reduction
2009
Key take-home messages “Some of the issues that revolve around housing readiness and access to housing being offered illustrate the “grey zones” that appear in a harm reduction approach. Thus...
Cost-effectiveness of front-line services (Updated 2010)
2010
Key take-home messages There is no one-size-fits-all cost-effective HIV strategy. An intervention that is found to be effective at preventing HIV infection has a good chance of being cost-effective due...
Sex worker HIV risk
2012
Key take-home messages The Canadian literature primarily encompasses female sex workers in Vancouver, and studies from other high income countries often addressed demographic niches that were not transferrable to the...
Public perception of harm reduction interventions
2012
Key take-home messages Public opinion polls and surveys taken between 2003 and 2007 in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and nationwide in Canada, have found majority support for harm reduction programs,...
Adherence to methadone maintenance treatment and antiretroviral therapy
2013
Key take-home messages HIV-positive intravenous drug users (IDUs) are at greater risk of non-adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) compared to the general HIV population. Psychological problems, active drug...