HIV and Injection Drug Use: New Approaches to HIV Prevention

Injection drug use has become a major public health problem. Its emerging significance is demonstrated globally in the dual HIV and HCV epidemics among people who inject drugs (PWID). Despite the advent of effective antivirals against HIV and HCV, PWID face multiple barriers to access and adherence to such treatments. Additionally, the lack of infrastructure for medication-assisted therapy for opioid addiction, inadequate treatment for underlying mental health disorders, and poor access to needle-syringe exchange programs and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis pose grave challenges to control these epidemics. In this chapter, we focus on the impact of the global injection drug use epidemic as well as new approaches on HIV prevention and the HIV care continuum for people who inject drugs.