Reference Group to the UN on HIV and injecting drug use: Request for material on HIV prevention services for IDUs

[Guest guest]

Dear ForumReference

Group to the UN on HIV and injecting drug use

Request for material on HIV prevention services for IDUs

The Reference Group to the UN on HIV and IDU recently published in 'The Lancet'

estimates on the prevalence of injecting drug use and HIV among IDUs around the

world. (for a copy of this article go to http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(08)61311-2/fulltext ).

Over the next few months the Reference Group will be developing estimates on

the coverage of HIV prevention

and care services for people who inject drugs. These estimates will be

used by UN agencies and others in the field, to assist with the development of

evidence-informed policy, advocacy for effective and appropriate strategies in

response to HIV among injectors and the planning of essential services for

people who inject drugs.

We are again asking for your assistance: we would be very grateful if you could

share us with any data or documents you may have on services for IDUs in your

country or region.

In this first stage of data collection we are gathering documents and reports containing

information on the following services for IDUs:

Needle

and syringe programmes

Opioid

substitution treatment

Other

drug dependency treatment

Anti-retroviral

therapy

Counselling

and testing for HIV

Sexual

health services and condom programmes

Hepatitis

C screening and treatment

We are looking for information that describes how these services are provided

and how they are utilised. This would include the following information:

The

number of sites where these services are offered

The

number of people who use/receive these service

Number

of needles and syringes distributed

Number

of opioid substitution treatment slots and details of the treatment

offered such as average dose and duration of treatment

Number

of IDU receiving antiretroviral treatment

Number

of IDU receiving hepatitis C treatment

and

any other relevant information

Any reports or documents - both published and unpublished - would be

gratefully received, including those in languages other than English.

Please forward any material you may be able to provide to me (atul.ambekar@...)

or to Bradley

Mathers, Senior

Research Officer, NDARC, UNSW, Sydney at the following address: IDUreferencegroup@...

Also, please circulate this email request to any

other colleagues or organisations who may have access to the type of

information we are seeking.

We are working to a tight timeframe so would be very grateful to receive

material before 15 December 2008 so that all the information

received can be considered in this review.

I would be happy to answer any questions you may have about this request.

For further information about the Reference Group please go to our website:www.idurefgroup.com

Thanks and all the best,

-- Dr. Atul Ambekar, M.D.Assistant ProfessorNational Drug Dependence Treatment Centre and Department of PsychiatryAll India Institute of Medical Sciences,Ansari Nagar,

New DelhiIndia - 110029Phone (O): 91-11-26593236Phone ®: 91-11-26105757Mobile: (+91) 9811155682Fax: 91-11-26588641, 91-11-26588663Email: atul.ambekar@...

Website: http://www.aiims.edu/aiims/departments/spcenter/nddtc/nddc_intro.htm