THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HARM REDUCTION AS A SOCIAL AND HEALTH CARE INTERVENTION FOR INJECTING DRUG USERS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF A NEEDLE EXCHANGE PROGRAM IN FRESNO, CALIFORNIA
There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
Infectious disease remains a significant social and health concern in the United States.
Preventing more people from contracting HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis C (HCV), requires a
complex understanding of the interconnection between the biomedical and social dimensions
of infectious disease. Opiate addiction in the US has skyrocketed in recent years.
Preventing more cases of HIV/AIDS and HCV will require dealing with the social determinants
of health. Needle exchange programs (NEPs) are based on a harm reduction approach
that seeks to minimize the risk of infection and damage to the user and community.
This article presents an exploratory small-scale quantitative study of the injection
drug using habits of a group of injection drug users (IDUs) at a needle exchange program
in Fresno, California. Respondents reported significant decreases in high risk IDU
behaviors, including sharing of needles and to a lesser extent re-using of needles.
They also reported frequent use of clean paraphernalia. Greater collaboration between
social and health outreach professionals at NEPs could provide important frontline
assistance to people excluded from mainstream office-based services and enhance efforts
to reduce HIV/AIDS or HCV infection.