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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom