From Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
May 2, 2011
A growing number of HIV infections in East Africa are linked to injection drug use (IDU), according to a new report (.pdf) from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, VOA News reports (DeCapua, 4/29).
CSIS sent a team to study the issue in Kenya and Tanzania “to better understand the dimensions of the IDU-driven HIV epidemic in those two countries and to look at how U.S.-supported programs through PEPFAR are helping shape a response,” according to a report summary (4/29).
Report co-author Lisa Carty, deputy director at the CSIS Global Health Policy Center, said, “Globally, we know that [injection drug use] is quite a serious problem. And we know that one in every three new infections is attributable to injecting drug use. We know that in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the former Soviet Union, it continues to be the major driver of the epidemic there. What we’re seeing happen on a parallel track is that in many countries, where the new HIV incidence is starting to stabilize and level off, that the proportion of IDU-related infections is continuing to increase,” VOA News reports. READ MORE
IDU