Safer injecting education for HIV prevention within a medically supervised safer injecting facility

Wood, Evan; Tyndall, Mark W.; Stoltz, Jo-Anne; Small, Will; Zhang, Ruth; O’Connell, Jacqueline; Montaner, Julio S.G.; Kerr, Thomas

doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2005.07.004

« Previous Next »International Journal of Drug Policy
Volume 16, Issue 4 , Pages 281-284, August 2005

Safer injecting education for HIV prevention within a medically supervised safer injecting facility

Evan Wood
- BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, 667-1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, 667-1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 604 806 9116; fax: +1 604 806 9044.
Mark W. Tyndall
- BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, 667-1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, 667-1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6
Jo-Anne Stoltz
- BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, 667-1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6
Will Small
- BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, 667-1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6
Ruth Zhang
- BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, 667-1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6
Jacqueline O’Connell
- BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, 667-1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6
Julio S.G. Montaner
- BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, 667-1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, 667-1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6
Thomas Kerr
- BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, 667-1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6

Received 10 February 2005; received in revised form 6 July 2005; accepted 27 July 2005.

Abstract

Background:

Requiring help injecting has recently been independently associated with syringe sharing and HIV incidence among injection drug users (IDUs) in Vancouver. We examined IDUs who were receiving safer injecting education within a supervised injecting facility (SIF) in Vancouver.

Methods:

The Scientific Evaluation of Supervised Injecting (SEOSI) cohort is based on a representative sample of SIF users. We examined the prevalence and correlates of receiving safer injecting education within the SIF using univariate and logistic regression analyses.

Results:

Between May 31, 2003 and Oct 22, 2004, 874 individuals of the SEOSI cohort have completed the baseline questionnaire, among whom 293 (33.5%) received safer injecting education. In multivariate analyses, requiring help with an injection in the last 6 months (OR=2.20 [95% CI: 1.62–2.98]) and sex-trade involvement in the last 6 months (OR=1.54 [1.09–2.16]) were independently associated with receiving safer injecting education within the SIF.

Conclusions:

Since requiring help injecting has previously been associated with HIV incidence, it is encouraging that this risk factor was associated with receiving safer injecting education within the SIF. Nevertheless, prospective evaluation is necessary to examine if receiving safer injecting education is associated with reduced HIV risk behaviour and blood-borne disease incidence.

Keywords: HIV incidence, Injection drug users, Supervised injecting facility