Illicit drug trade fuelling HIV infections

CTV.ca | Illicit drug trade fuelling HIV infections: expert:

There are also a range of drug rehabilitation programs, notably methadone for heroin users, that have proven successful, he said....

Wodak said the United States has the highest incidence of AIDS in the industrialized world, roughly five times greater than second-place Spain, in part because of its failure to control HIV among injection drug users.

Yet the opposition in the United States prevents these pragmatic approaches being spread throughout the world.

While progress is being made in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the disease is still spreading faster among injection drug users than harm reduction programs needed to slow transmission, he said.

To be sure, harm reduction is one important tool to reduce HIV transmission. However, reading this article would lead one to believe that injection drug use is the leading cause of HIV transmission in the U.S.--not true. Injection drug use accounts for 12% of infections and sex with an injection drug user accounts for 3%.