Drug Use, HIV, and Harm Reduction Among Women

If you plan to attend the International AIDS Conference, please join amfAR for a satellite symposium:

Drug Use, HIV, and Harm Reduction Among Women
Sunday, August 13
10:15 to 12:15
Session Room #10

Drug use, especially injecting drug use (IDU), continues to be a significant route of HIV infection among women in many communities in North America and globally. In the U.S., racial and ethnic minority women are hit particularly hard: Black women account for 60% of IDU-associated HIV infections among all women. IDU is also particularly relevant in Asia and Eastern Europe, regions with rapidly expanding HIV epidemics. This satellite session will be an opportunity to: provide a broad epidemiological overview of HIV among women drug users; discuss findings from clinical, social, and public policy research about the links between drug use and HIV infection among women; assess interventions that have been developed to address these links; discuss emerging epidemics and innovative harm reduction programs; and highlight future directions for research, policy, and advocacy.

Program
Epidemiological Overview of Drug Use and HIV Among Women
Catherine Hankins, MD, MSc, FRCPC
UNAIDS, Switzerland

Emerging Epidemics and Harm Reduction Programs: Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch, MSW
Open Society Institute, USA

Drug Use, Inter-Partner Violence, and Sexual Risk
Nabila El-Bassel, DSW
Columbia University, USA

Policy and Advocacy in Unlikely Places: The Malaysian Harm Reduction Experience
Adeeba Kamarulzaman, MBBS, FRACP
University of Malaya, Malaysia

Moderator
Judith D. Auerbach, PhD
Vice President, Public Policy and Program Development
amfAR