TY - JOUR
T1 - Global epidemiology of HIV among women and girls who use or inject drugs
T2 - Current knowledge and limitations of existing data
AU - Larney, Sarah
AU - Mathers, Bradley M.
AU - Poteat, Tonia
AU - Kamarulzaman, Adeeba
AU - Degenhardt, Louisa
N1 - Funding Information:
Supported by Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Fellowships for authors S.L., B.M.M., and L.D. (nos. 1035149, 1054244, and 1041742). The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre is supported by funding from the Australian Government under the Substance Misuse and Service Improvements Grants Fund. The Kirby Institute is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. This research has been facilitated by the infrastructure and resources provided by the Johns Hopkins University Center for AIDS Research, an NIH funded program (P30AI094189), which is supported by the following NIH Co-Funding and Participating Institutes and Centers: NIAID, NCI, NICHD, NHLBI, NIDA, NIMH, NIA, FIC, NIGMS, NIDDK, and OAR.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Background: Women and girls who use and inject drugs are a critical population at risk of HIV. In this article, we review data on the epidemiology of drug use and injection among women globally and HIV prevalence among women and girls who use and inject drugs. Results: Women and girls comprise one-third of people who use and inject drugs globally. There is substantial variation in HIV prevalence in this population, between and within countries. There is a pronounced lack of data examining HIV risk among particularly vulnerable subpopulations of women who use and inject drugs, including women who have sex with women, transgender women, racial and ethnic minority women, and young women. Women who use and inject drugs experience stigma and discrimination that affect access to services, and high levels of sexual risk exposures. Conclusions: There are significant gaps in our understanding of the epidemiology of drug use and injecting among women and girls and HIV risk and prevalence in this population. Women are frequently underrepresented in studies of drug use and HIV risk and prevalence among people who inject drugs, limiting our understanding of possible sex differences in this population. Most research originates from developed countries and may not be generalizable to other settings. A great deal of work is needed to improve understanding of HIV among particularly vulnerable subpopulations, such as transgender women who use drugs. Better data are critical to efforts to advocate for the needs of women and girls who use and inject drugs.
AB - Background: Women and girls who use and inject drugs are a critical population at risk of HIV. In this article, we review data on the epidemiology of drug use and injection among women globally and HIV prevalence among women and girls who use and inject drugs. Results: Women and girls comprise one-third of people who use and inject drugs globally. There is substantial variation in HIV prevalence in this population, between and within countries. There is a pronounced lack of data examining HIV risk among particularly vulnerable subpopulations of women who use and inject drugs, including women who have sex with women, transgender women, racial and ethnic minority women, and young women. Women who use and inject drugs experience stigma and discrimination that affect access to services, and high levels of sexual risk exposures. Conclusions: There are significant gaps in our understanding of the epidemiology of drug use and injecting among women and girls and HIV risk and prevalence in this population. Women are frequently underrepresented in studies of drug use and HIV risk and prevalence among people who inject drugs, limiting our understanding of possible sex differences in this population. Most research originates from developed countries and may not be generalizable to other settings. A great deal of work is needed to improve understanding of HIV among particularly vulnerable subpopulations, such as transgender women who use drugs. Better data are critical to efforts to advocate for the needs of women and girls who use and inject drugs.
KW - Girls
KW - HIV
KW - People who inject drugs
KW - People who use drugs
KW - Prevalence
KW - Women
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U2 - 10.1097/QAI.0000000000000623
DO - 10.1097/QAI.0000000000000623
M3 - Article
C2 - 25978476
AN - SCOPUS:84938502317
SN - 1525-4135
VL - 69
SP - S100-S109
JO - Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes
JF - Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes
ER -