Pubdate: Fri, 14 Mar 2014
Source: Metro (Vancouver, CN BC)
Copyright: 2014 Metro Canada
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3775
Author: Matt Kieltyka
Cited: B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS: http://www.cfenet.ubc.ca/

INJECTION SITE IMPROVES OVERALL HIV CARE

Dr. Peter Centre. New study says the services improved access to 
care, adherence to treatment

A new study has found that the supervised injection services at 
Vancouver's Dr. Peter Centre have had knock-on benefits for HIV/AIDS patients.

The study, published Thursday in the Journal of International AIDS 
Society, says the on-site injection services at the centre improved 
access to palliative and supportive care services and increased 
adherence to HIV/AIDS treatment.

"Drug users encounter significant barriers to accessing in-patient 
health care services," wrote the study's lead author Will Small, a 
Simon Fraser University health science assistant professor and B.C. 
Centre of Excellence in HIV/AIDS researcher. "These findings 
demonstrate hard reduction approaches can not only reduce 
drug-related harms, but also improve access and adherence to 
life-saving treatment and care and encourage drug withdrawal."

Of the 13 Dr. Peter Centre residents - who used the supervised 
injection services - interviewed over a 10-month period, 63 per cent 
received addiction counseling.

A third of them were referred to withdrawal management or long-term 
treatment programs.

The Dr. Peter Centre residence is a 24-suite palliative and 
supportive care program with 24-hour specialized care for HIV/AIDS patients.

Many of them are drug addicted, which traditionally makes them less 
likely to adhere to HIV treatment programs.

Supervised injection services have been available at the centre since 
2003, when it and Insite jointly applied for federal drug law 
exemptions from Health Canada.

Vancouver Coastal Health and the Dr. Peter Centre re-applied last 
month for a new exemption, as an apparent clerical error meant the 
site has been operating in a grey area without required approvals.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom