The Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS reports that
2·5 million people contracted HIV in 2011.1
One in ten of
these new HIV infections was probably caused by injecting
drug use; in some countries in eastern Europe and central
Asia, more than 80% of all HIV infections are related to
drug use.2
In Thailand, HIV spread rapidly in people who
inject drugs in the late 1980s3
and HIV prevalence has
remained high in this group, ranging from 30% to 50%,
through 2009.4
Safe and eff ective interventions to prevent
HIV infection in this population are needed