TY - JOUR
T1 - Preventing HIV infection among injecting drug users
T2 - Intuitive and counter-intuitive findings
AU - Des Jarlais, Don C.
N1 - Funding Information:
This article is based on an address given at the AmericanA ssociationf or Applied and Prevention Psychology in May 1997 in conjunctionw ith an award for "DistinguishedC ontributiont o Applied Psychology.'" Given the nature of this address, a few personal comments may he appropriate. First, I would like to note the support of my wife and young son while working on the research discussed in this article. Sharon has been unfailingly supportive despite the great time and travel demands involvedi n this research. (I have accumulatedo ver 2 million frequent flyer miles in the course of the research.) The life force so abundant in my son Robert has been a necessary antidote to often being immersed in deaths from AIDS. All of the research has been conducted by teams of highly dedicated and highly competent people. It particular, I want to acknowledget he contributionso f Sam Friedman;t o say that his contributionsh ave been invaluablew ould be an understatement. Much of the research was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, particularlyt hrough grant RO1 DA 03574, and 1 also want to note the strong support from many of the NIDA staff. Finally, I want to acknowledge the contributionso f the research participants, they have done as much as anyone to help generate knowledge that can be used to reduce HIV infection and AIDS.
PY - 1999
Y1 - 1999
N2 - The disease now called AIDS was first reported among injecting drug users in 1981. This article reviews the last 15 years of research on preventing HIV infection and AIDS among injecting drug users. Many of the findings were surprising in the context of previous understandings of the illicit injection of psychoactive drugs - both with respect to the much-larger-than-expected size of the epidemic and the much-greater-than-expected potential for behavior change among drug injectors (IDU). The research is reviewed within a framework of eight issues: the importance of the problem in the United States, the global diffusion of injecting drug use, the global diffusion of HIV among IDUs, potential rapid spread of HIV among IDUs, risk reduction among IDUs, community-level prevention, syringe exchange programs, and developing a public-health perspective on psychoactive drug use.
AB - The disease now called AIDS was first reported among injecting drug users in 1981. This article reviews the last 15 years of research on preventing HIV infection and AIDS among injecting drug users. Many of the findings were surprising in the context of previous understandings of the illicit injection of psychoactive drugs - both with respect to the much-larger-than-expected size of the epidemic and the much-greater-than-expected potential for behavior change among drug injectors (IDU). The research is reviewed within a framework of eight issues: the importance of the problem in the United States, the global diffusion of injecting drug use, the global diffusion of HIV among IDUs, potential rapid spread of HIV among IDUs, risk reduction among IDUs, community-level prevention, syringe exchange programs, and developing a public-health perspective on psychoactive drug use.
KW - AIDS
KW - HIV
KW - Injecting drug users
KW - Policy
KW - Prevention
KW - Substance abuse
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U2 - 10.1016/S0962-1849(99)80011-0
DO - 10.1016/S0962-1849(99)80011-0
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0033408658
SN - 0962-1849
VL - 8
SP - 63
EP - 70
JO - Applied and Preventive Psychology
JF - Applied and Preventive Psychology
IS - 1
ER -