Research
A success story: HIV prevention for injection drug users in Rhode Island
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* Corresponding author: Curt G Beckwith CBeckwith@Lifespan.org
1 Brown Medical School, Department of Medicine, The Miriam Hospital, 164 Summit Ave, Providence, Rhode Island 02906, USA
2 Rhode Island Department of Health, 3 Capitol Hill, Providence, Rhode Island, 02908, USA
Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy 2006, 1:34 doi:10.1186/1747-597X-1-34
Published: 4 December 2006Abstract
Background
New HIV diagnoses related to injection drug use (IDU) have declined in the United States. Access to clean syringes and decreasing HIV transmission among injection drug users have been HIV prevention priorities of the Rhode Island (RI) HIV community. To examine trends in IDU-related new HIV diagnoses in RI, we performed a retrospective analysis of new HIV diagnoses according to HIV risk factor from 1990–2003.
Results
There has been an 80% absolute reduction in IDU-related new HIV diagnoses in RI coincident with IDU-specific prevention efforts.
Conclusion
There has been a greater decline in IDU-related new HIV diagnoses in Rhode Island compared to national data reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We hypothesize that this dramatic decline in Rhode Island is related to extensive HIV prevention efforts targeting IDUs. Further research is needed to examine the impact of specific HIV prevention interventions for injection drug users.