Volume 6, Issue 1

Unmet HIV Prevention Opportunities in PWID

In this issue:

PWID — people who inject drugs — account for nearly 10% of new HIV infections. As the current injectable drug (opioids methamphetamine, cocaine) epidemic continues, and the need for a comprehensive harm reduction infrastructure remains unfulfilled, and there are unmet opportunities for HIV prevention among PWID as we seek to End the HIV Epidemic. What can be done to change this situation? How can more at-risk PWID be identified and brought into care? What does the evidence say about the effects of expanding preventive services?  

In this issue of eHIV Review, Dr. Joshua Barocas and Dr. Raagini Jawa from Boston Medical Center analyze the current literature to answer these critical questions.

Learning objectives:

  • Explain the barriers to HIV screening in people who inject drugs and the impact of improved access to harm-reduction services. 
  • Describe the evidence supporting opioid-agonist therapy for people with HIV who inject drugs. 

Authors:

Joshua Barocas, MD
Joshua Barocas, MD

Assistant Professor 
Boston Medical Center 
Boston, MA

Raagini Jawa, MD, MPH
Raagini Jawa, MD, MPH

Infectious Disease/Addiction Medicine Fellow 
Boston Medical Center 
Boston, MA

Program Directors:

Ethel D. Weld, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences
Division of Infectious Diseases
Division of Clinical Pharmacology
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Baltimore, Maryland
(she/her/hers)

Matthew Spinelli, MD, MAS

Assistant Professor
HIV, ID, and Global Medicine
Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital
San Francisco, California
(he/him/his)

Justin Alves, RN, FNP-BC, ACRN, CARN, CNE

Nurse Educator
Boston Medical Center
Boston, MA
(he/him/his)

Length of activity:

1.0 hour Physicians
1.0 contact hour Nurses

Launch date: October 30, 2020
Expiration date: October 29, 2022