Delivering HIV care and treatment for people who use drugs: Lessons from research and practice

In China and Malaysia, Eastern Europe and Russia, Central Asia, and parts of Latin America, the majority of HIV infections are due to injecting drug use. Yet injection drug users and other people who use drugs often have little to no access to the HIV treatment available in these regions.
In a time when universal access to HIV treatment is a shared goal, and when growing numbers of studies indicate that people who use drugs are capable of adhering to antiretroviral therapy (ARV), why is there such inequitable access to treatment? Is it because of discrimination, lack of political attention, and community organizations not being heard? Or is it also because treatment professionals are overwhelmed by the demands already placed on them, and tend to see people who use drugs as difficult, "hopeless" patients who cause trouble and take more time?
"Delivering HIV Care and Treatment for People Who Use Drugs: Lessons from Research and Practice" seeks to address these questions by presenting information on caring for drug users with HIV, and those with HIV and other infections. Chapters that are scientific in nature are accompanied by analyses and case studies highlighting the politics and policies influencing the provision of HIV treatment to drug users.
Key issues examined include:
• Measures to support HIV treatment adherence, including opiate substitution therapies and directly administered antiretroviral treatment;
• Providing HIV treatment in prison settings;
• Treating HIV and coinfections such as viral hepatitis and tuberculosis;
• ARV and interactions with street drugs and medications used in drug treatment;
• Ethical and practical considerations for including drug users in HIV treatment and prevention research.