UN Agencies' initiative to expand HIV prevention services

Colombo, Aug 21 (UNI) Injecting drug use is a major factor fuelling the HIV epidemic in the Asia and Pacific region accounting to 50-70 per cent of HIV infections in some countries.

Various UN agencies including the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) today announced a major intiative to expand HIV prevention services to injecting drug users at the 8th International Congress on Aids in Asia and Pacific.

The intiative, 'Prevention of transmission of HIV among drug Users in SAARC Countries', aims to assist governments and communities to reduce the spread of HIV among drug users and their regular sex partners. The project will scale up prevention and care programmes, including drug substitution treatment and safer practices, using outreach to provide users with clean needles and syringes. This will take place with full participiation from drug user communties. It will also promote access to primary healthcare and antiretroviral therapy for drug users.

''Oral substitution treatment is an effective, safe and cost effective method for the management of opiods dependnence and must be integrated with other HIV prevewntion and treatment and care services as critical outreach among drug users,'' UNODC Representative for South asia Gary Lewis said.

''Certain south Asian countries are particulalry vulnerable and need to establish pilot substitution programmes and widely disseminate the findings into a scaled up response,'' Mr Gary said.

Injecting drug use is a major factor fuelling the HIV epidemic in the South, South East and East Asia region, accounting to 50-70 per cent of HIV infections in some countries. Of the 13 million estimated drug users in the world, some 3.3 million live in this region. In South Asia in particular, the increasing use of heroin and the diffusion of injecting drug use pose a major risk for the spread of HIV.

Drug users face serious health problems including infection and malnutrition, harassment from the wider community, threat of imprisonment and poverty contribute to poor access to mainstream health services for drug users.

UNAIDS Asia and Pacific Regional Director Prasada Rao said the time has come to reach out to injecting drug users to step out of the darkeness of stigma together and demand an innovative approach to HIV prevention that upholds their human rights and dignity.

UNI