AIDS, Drugs and Society, Revised Edition

This edition of AIDS, Drugs and Society, while providing background theory on harm reduction and pragmatic public health approaches to disease prevention, is more focused on HIV/AIDS epidemic in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States (CEE/NIS). This region now sees the fastest growing epidemic in the world. Most people with HIV live in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, however the numbers of new infections in the CEE/NIS region skyrocketed when the virus got into the local drug-injection communities. This region now sees the fastest growing epidemic in the world, with Russia and Ukraine being the most affected.  Countries of this region differ in their approaches to the epidemic and to injection drug use that drives HIV/AIDS in the region. Through theory and practical examples, this book aims to build on the experiences of different countries worldwide in addressing HIV/AIDS epidemic among injection drug users, allow for an informed debate about the necessity and importance of harm reduction interventions in the CEE/NIS region and advocate for support from legislators, local policy-makers and international donor agencies.