School of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. ; Regional Knowledge Hub, and WHO Collaborating Center for HIV Surveillance, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
Regional Knowledge Hub, and WHO Collaborating Center for HIV Surveillance, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
Int J Health Policy Manag. 2014 Feb 22;2(2):81-3. doi: 10.15171/ijhpm.2014.19. eCollection 2014 Feb.
Despite the fact that HIV epidemic is mainly driven by injection drug use in Iran, partners of People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) have been seriously neglected in terms of effective preventive interventions. Currently, sexual partners of PWID might have access to some harm reduction services at Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) centers; however, their needs have not been effectively targeted and met. Unfortunately, the current programs implemented by the Ministry of Health have overlooked the importance of this population in the course of the HIV epidemic throughout the country. In this policy brief, we are trying to draw the health policy-makers' attention to this overlooked population and while reviewing the advantages and disadvantages of some of the readily available options on the table, come up with a recommended action to tackle this problem. Our recommended action that seems to have had promising results elsewhere in Asia would try to implement preventive interventions targeting this particular population through peer prevention programs.
尽管在伊朗，艾滋病毒的流行主要是由注射吸毒驱动的，但注射吸毒者的性伴侣在有效的预防干预措施方面却被严重忽视。目前，注射吸毒者的性伴侣可能可以在自愿咨询和检测（VCT）中心获得一些减少伤害服务；然而，他们的需求并没有得到有效针对和满足。不幸的是，卫生部目前实施的方案在全国艾滋病毒流行过程中忽视了这一人群的重要性。在本政策简报中，我们试图引起卫生政策制定者对这一被忽视人群的关注，同时审查现有的一些方案的优缺点，提出解决这一问题的建议行动。我们建议的行动，似乎在亚洲其他地方取得了有希望的结果，试图通过同伴预防方案针对这一特定人群实施预防干预。
