Category Archives: Nonmedicinal drugs
Prevalence of injecting drug use and HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C in people who inject drugs in the Eastern Mediterranean region: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Background: Considerable disease burden is attributed to injecting drug use (IDU). This regional systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the prevalence of IDU and the characteristics of people who inject...
Coronavirus (COVID-19) and sexualised drug use among men who have sex with men: A systematic review
Drug-related harms, including harms from sexualised drug use (SDU), are disproportionately experienced by sexual and gender minority people, relative to their majority counterparts. Chemsex, a type of SDU practiced mainly...
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention among people who inject drugs: A global mapping of service delivery
BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for all people at substantial risk of HIV as part of combination prevention. The extent to which this recommendation...
Can contingency management solve the problem of adherence to antiretroviral therapy in drug-dependent individuals?
Drug misuse among people living with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is associated with higher mortality. It is a frequently observed reason for treatment abandonment, with people who misuse drugs showing...
Does the association between stimulant use and high risk sexual behavior vary by injection drug use, sexual minority status, or HIV infection status? A meta-analysis
There is strong evidence linking stimulant use, namely methamphetamine use, to sexual risk behavior among sexual minority men (SMM); we do not, however, have a good understanding of this relationship...
Barriers to condom negotiation and use among female sex workers in the United States and United States-Mexico border cities: A systematic review
Despite the effectiveness of male condoms, many Female Sex Workers (FSWs) report using condoms infrequently with multiple clients during sexual activity. As such, inconsistent condom use by FSWs is a...
The epidemic of HIV and syphilis and the correlation with substance abuse among men who have sex with men in China: A systematic review and meta-analysis
BACKGROUND: In China, the HIV/AIDS epidemic among men who have sex with men (MSM) has been expanding in recent years. Substance abuse in MSM was not well studied as the...
Methodologies used in studies examining substance abuse, violence and HIV/AIDS (SAVA) constructs using a syndemic framework: A scoping review
The syndemic theoretical framework has been used in health disparities research to explain several co-occurring epidemics, particularly in populations facing disparate health conditions. A prominent example of this is seen...
Neurocognitive impairment and associated factors among people living with HIV: A systematic review and meta-analysis of African studies
BACKGROUND: Neurocognitive impairment (NCI) is one of the most common neurological complications in HIV-positive individuals, particularly in resource-limited countries. Neurocognitive impairments can occur at any stage of HIV infection, although...
Epidemiology of injecting drug use, prevalence of injecting-related harm, and exposure to behavioural and environmental risks among people who inject drugs: A systematic review
Background People who inject drugs are exposed to various and changing risk environments and are at risk of multiple harms related to injecting drug use (IDU). We aimed to undertake...
The impact of needle and syringe exchange programs on HIV-related risk behaviors in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis examining individual- versus community-level effects
We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the impact of needle and syringe exchange programs (NSP) on both individual- and community-level needle-sharing behaviors and other HIV-related outcomes in low-...
