HIV and drug use in Eurasia

The twin epidemics of drug addiction and HIV simultaneously emerged in the Eurasia region in the late 1990s. Both were unanticipated by health establishments. Failure to act slowed the collection of detailed data and effective responses. In this chapter, we report on our observations and on those of our colleagues. To provide a proper sense of the problem created by the slow response of most of the governments in the region, this chapter combines a description of our experiences with the limited data available from scholarly sources.