Strategies for Disease Prevention

These public health strategies are important to prevent the spread of disease among persons who use drugs. For example, outreach programs, in the community and on the streets, make available to persons who use drugs prevention and risk reduction, testing, and referral services. Recommended approaches, immunizations and screening, can protect the health of a person who uses drugs through medical interventions, while evidence-based behavioral interventions help prevent sexual and injection transmission by addressing risky behaviors.

Safe Syringe Practices

• Syringe Disinfection for IDUs
• Access to Syringes
• Effectiveness of Sterile Needle and Syringe Programming in Reducing HIV/AIDS Among Injecting Drug Users
• Policy Brief: Provision of Sterile Injecting Equipment to Reduce HIV Transmission, WHO

Testing and Vaccines

• HIV/AIDS Prevention
  • Revised Recommendations for HIV Testing of Adults, Adolescents, and Pregnant Women in Health-Care Settings
  • Rapid HIV Tests: Guidelines for Use in HIV Testing and Counseling Services in Resource Constrained Settings, WHO
• STD Prevention
  • HPV Vaccine
• Hepatitis
  • Prevention of Hepatitis A Through Active or Passive Immunization
  • Recommendations for Identification and Public Health Management of Persons with Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection
  • Hepatitis B Vaccination Recommendations for Adults
  • Recommendations for Identification of Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection Among Persons Born During 1945-1965
• TB
  • Guide for Primary Health Care Providers: Targeted Tuberculin Testing and Treatment of Latent Tuberculosis Infection
  • Guidelines for Using the QuantiFERON®-TB Gold Test for Detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection, United States

Outreach

• Evidence for Action: Effectiveness of Community Based Outreach, World Health Organization (WHO)
• Training Guide for HIV Prevention Outreach to IDUs: WHO Workshop Manual, WHO

Behavioral Interventions (to prevent sexual and injection transmission)

• HIV/AIDS Prevention
  • Compendium of Evidence-Based HIV Prevention Interventions
  • Effective Interventions

Drug Overdose Prevention

• Tips to Prevent Poisoning

Integrated Guidelines

• Integrated Prevention Services for HIV Infection, Viral Hepatitis, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, and Tuberculosis for Persons Who Use Drugs Illicitly: Summary Guidance from CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Policy Guidelines For Collaborative TB And HIV Services For Injecting and Other Drug Users, An Integrated Approach, WHO
• Policy Brief: Policy Guidelines For Collaborative TB and HIV Services for Injecting and Other Drug Users, WHO