Volume 6, Issue 2

Harm Reduction Strategies for People Who Inject Drugs

In this issue:

Why do PWID — people who inject drugs — continue as an uncontrolled source of HIV infection? Where are the missed opportunities for increased screening in this population? What barriers have been identified and what strategies can successfully overcome them? Which harm reduction initiatives have been proved effective, and can they be cost-effectively replicated? 

In this eHIV Review podcast, Dr. Josh Barocas from the Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, and Dr. Raagini Jawa, an infectious disease and addiction medicine fellow at Boston Medical Center, provide a clinical perspective on these important questions. 

Learning objectives:

  • Discuss 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 and colocation for HIV positive people who inject drugs.

Authors:

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

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

Joshua Barocas, MD
Joshua Barocas, MD

Assistant Professor 
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:

0.5 hour Physicians
0.5 contact hour Nurses

Launch date: November 20, 2020
Expiration date: November 19, 2022