Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #116717

Don C. Des Jarlais, PhD, Baron Edmond de Rothschild Chemical Dependency Institute, Beth Israel Medical Center, 160 Water St., 24th Floor, New York, NY 10038, 212.256-2548, dcdesjarla@aol.com, Theodore M. Hammett, PhD, Abt Associates Inc., 55 Wheeler Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-1168, Liu Wei, MD, Center for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control, 80 Taoyuan Road, Nanning, China, Chen Yi, Guangxi Center for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control, 55 Wheeler St., Cambridge, MA 02138, Doan Ngu, MD, MSc, Consultant, 20 Quan Tram, Dong Da, Hanoi, Vietnam, Ly Kieu Van, MD, Lang Son Provincial Health Services, 50 Dinh Tien Hoang, Lang Son City, Vietnam, and Donghua Meng, MD, Ning Ming County Health Department, 55 Wheeler St., Cambridge, MA 02138.

Issue: Many HIV prevention interventions for injecting drug users (IDUs) rely upon peer educators (PEs). Many PEs are current drug injectors and at least some are likely to be HIV-positive. PE activities bring them into regular contact with other drug users and expose them to stimuli likely to evoke drug cravings. In many developing country settings, IDUs in general have very limited access to substance abuse treatment and anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment. Description: We sought to make methadone maintenance (MMT) and ARV treatment for HIV available to PEs in Lang Son Province, Vietnam and Ning Ming County, Guangxi Province, China. We worked with partners and stakeholders – local health departments, governmental and political leaders -- to clear all bureaucratic hurdles, obtain necessary approvals, and secure funding. We identified existing centers or established new venues in which to provide MMT and ARV. Lessons Learned: It is arduous to obtain all necessary government approvals and arrange the needed services. Recommendations: There are important moral and practical reasons for providing MMT and ARV for PEs. It is simply ethically right to do so, given the importance of the PE work in their communities. From a practical standpoint, MMT and ARV may help to stabilize PEs' lives and allow them to work more effectively over a longer period of time. Successful MMT and ARV programs for PEs can serve as a means of introducing these programs to the larger community.

Learning Objectives:

• To understand the importance of peer educators in prevention of HIV among IDUs;
• To understand practical problems in providing methadone and ARV treatment for peer educators;
• To understand ethical issues in provision of methadone and ARV treatment for peer educators.

Keywords: Peer Education, Injection Drug Users

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.