A new UN initiative is set to curb HIV infection rates among injection drug users at five sites around New Delhi by offering the opiate buprenorphine, taken orally, as a substitute for injection drugs such as heroin.
Hoping to wean drug users off injection drugs altogether, UNAIDS, UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) will be expanding the program to 15 centers in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal.
This substitution treatment is part of a larger program in South Asia to prevent the sharing of needles among drug users, encourage safer practices and promote voluntary HIV counseling and testing.
Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
Woman of the Month is supported by exclusive advertising from Gilead.
Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
