Needle sharing in context: patterns of sharing among men and women injectors and HIV risks.

This paper looks at the social contexts within which needle sharing took place among a sample of Glasgow injectors. The intention is to show that needle sharing is rarely random but instead highly patterned and influenced by circumstance and social relationships. Gender can also be seen to have an important influence on sharing patterns. Consideration of the reported instances of needle sharing provides some indication that women injectors may be at increased risk of HIV transmission relative to their male counterparts.