NCJ Number
171389
Journal
Substance Use & Misuse Volume: 33 Issue: 5 Dated: special issue (1998) Pages: 1113-1127
Date Published
1998
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Drug injecting provision measures in Australia have been reasonably successful as AIDS prevention measures; in conjunction with peer education and other activities, needle exchange appears to have led to a change in norms away from the sharing of needles and other injecting equipment among at least older heroin injectors in large population centers.
Abstract
In many other areas and in many subpopulations, however, particularly marginalized groups such as Aborigines and Vietnamese-Australian injectors, messages about AIDS risk are either not penetrating or are being ignored and needle and other equipment sharing still appears to be common. The needle exchange strategy as a separate activity from peer education among intravenous drug users (IDUs) needs to be reconsidered in light of the widespread epidemic of hepatitis C among Australian IDUs. In addition, the level of supply of all injecting equipment needs to be increased to assist IDUs in learning and using aseptic injecting techniques, given the lack of effective disinfection techniques to prevent the spread of hepatitis C and problems surrounding both the promotion of disinfection and the promotion of noninjecting drug administration routes. 12 references and 1 table