Despite a number of social/behavioral intervention and educational programs, the spread of hepatitis C
(HCV) in people who inject drugs (PWIDs) remains a chronic problem.
Now, researchers affiliated with New York University’s Center for Drug
Use and HIV Research (CDUHR) are focusing on intervention strategies
that highlight the lesser-known dangers of HCV transmission through the
sharing of other injection equipment such as cookers, filters,
drug-dilution water and water containers.
Their article, “The Staying Safe Intervention: Training People Who
Inject Drugs in Strategies to Avoid Injection-Related HCV and HIV
Infection,” published in the 2014 March-April issue of AIDS Education and Prevention, explores the feasibility and efficacy
of their “Staying Safe Intervention,” a strengths-based
social/behavioral intervention conducted with small groups of PWID,
designed to facilitate long-term prevention of HIV and HCV.
