Data and Public Health Decision Making on HIV Prevention in Injection Drug Users

Excerpt

In this issue, Neaigus et al.1 present interesting data comparing sources of injection equipment, injecting risk behavior, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence, hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence, and risk behavior among injecting drug users (IDUs) from Newark, NJ, and New York City. Newark is only 10 mi (16 km) from New York City, but at the time of data collection, the two cities had radically different environments with respect to obtaining sterile injection equipment for injecting drugs. At the time of data collection (2004–2006), New York City had both large-scale syringe exchange programs and the Expanded Syringe Access Program through which drug users can legally purchase needles and syringes at pharmacies without a prescription, while Newark had neither syringe exchange nor legal pharmacy purchase. …