Interventions to prevent HIV and Hepatitis C among people who inject drugs: Latest evidence of effectiveness from a systematic review (2011 to 2020)

Lit review
by
Palmateer, Norah et al

Release Date

2022

Geography

UK

Language of Resource

English

Full Text Available

Yes

Open Access / OK to Reproduce

Yes

Peer Reviewed

Yes

Objective

We update a 2011 review of reviews (RoR) to assess the latest evidence on the effectiveness of harm reduction interventions – drug treatment (including opioid agonist therapy [OAT]), needle and syringe programmes (NSP) and other interventions – in the prevention of HCV and HIV transmission, and related measures of infection risk (IRB and injecting frequency [IF]), among PWID.

Findings/Key points

There is now a strong body of empirical evidence for the effectiveness of OAT and NSP, alone and in combination, in reducing IRB, and HCV and HIV transmission. However, there is still a relative lack of evidence for other interventions, including heroin-assisted treatment, pharmacological treatment for stimulant dependence, contingency management, technology-based interventions, low dead space syringes and drug consumption rooms on HCV or HIV risk.

doi.org

Keywords

Harm reduction
About PWUD
Wrap-around services