Drug dependence is a complex, chronic, relapsing condition that is often accompanied by severe health, psychological, economic, legal, and social consequences. Injecting drug users are particularly vulnerable to HIV and other bloodborne infections (such as hepatitis C) as a result of sharing contaminated injecting equipment. All drug-dependent individuals, including injecting drug users (IDUs), may be at increased risk of HIV infection because of high-risk sexual behaviors. There are an estimated 13.2 million injecting drug users (IDUs) world-wide-78 percent of whom live in developing or transitional countries. The sharing of contaminated injecting equipment has become a major driving force of the global AIDS epidemic and is the primary mode of HIV transmission in many countries. In some cases, epidemics initially fueled by the sharing of contaminated injecting equipment are spreading through sexual transmission from IDUs to non-injecting populations, and through perinatal transmission to newborns. Reversing the rise of HIV infections among IDUs has thus become an urgent global public health challenge-one that remains largely unmet. In response to this challenge, the Institute of Medicine convened a public workshop in Geneva in December 2005 to gather information from experts on IDU-driven HIV epidemics in the most affected regions of the world with an emphasis on countries throughout Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and significant parts of Asia. Experts from other regions also provided information on their experiences in preventing HIV infection among IDUs. This report provides a summary of the workshop discussions. Preventing HIV Infection among Injecting Drug Users in High Risk Countries describes the evidence on the intermediate outcomes of drug-related risk and sex-related risk prior to examining the impact on HIV transmission. This report focuses on programs that are designed to prevent the transmission of HIV among injecting drug users. These programs range from efforts to curtail non-medical drug use to those that encourage reduction in high-risk behavior among drug users. Although the report focuses on HIV prevention for IDUs in high-risk countries, the Committee considered evidence from countries around the world. The findings and recommendations of this report are also applicable to countries where injecting drug use is not the primary driver, but in which injection drug use is nevertheless associated with significant HIV transmission.

Drug Injecting and HIV Infection is a comparative international study of drug injecting behaviour and HIV infection based on the World Health Organization's study of 13 cities as disparate as Athens, Bangkok, Glasgow and Rio de Janeiro. Using a standardized methodology for the collection of data, as well as central data management and analysis, this study represents the largest international project of its kind. It presents a comprehensive overview of what is currently known about drug injecting, HIV infection, epidemic dynamics and possibilities for prevention. Stressing the importance of linking research to intervention and policy, the contributors emphasize the need to place HIV and policy issues on the international agenda. Written by experts in the field, this global study offers an in-depth and definitive analysis of the subject.

Offers new and cutting-edge research on the role of drugs in Iranian society and government. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

The War on Drugs' has traditionally had total abstinence as its target. The contributors to this book take a new and challenging approach to problem drug use, arguing that abstinence is not the only solution. They believe that existing methods of treatment and control have been inadequate in controlling or improving drug problems and they propose a radical alternative: reducing the harm associated with the use of illicit drugs. International in scope, the book covers a broad range of drugs, and of social and individual problems. The spread of HIV infection, which has been described as a greater threat to individual and public health than drug misuse is also considered. The contributors give an overview of the current theories and practices that have helped to minimise the harmful effects of drugs and describe national and city-level strategies towards drug problems. They also cover the drug policies of several agencies and organisations world-wide, including police, doctors, community groups and local authorities. Concentrating on reducing drug-related harm, this in an important contribtuion to the debate on the future shape of drug control systems. It questions the role and function of existing drug laws and discusses how harm reduction will shape day-to-day work with drug users. Provocative and persuasive, it should be read by all policy-makers and practitioners faced with drugs problems, and will do much to help establish new strategies for dealing with drug use, strategies that minimise rather than exacerbate drug-related harm.

"The 2012 report recognized that expanding women's agency - their ability to make decisions and take advantage of opportunities is key to improving their lives as well as the world. This report represents a major advance in global knowledge on this critical front. The vast data and thousands of surveys distilled in this report cast important light on the nature of constraints women and girls continue to face globally. This report identifies promising opportunities and entry points for lasting transformation, such as interventions that reach across sectors and include life-skills training, sexual and reproductive health education, conditional cash transfers, and mentoring. It finds that addressing what the World Health Organization has identified as an epidemic of violence against women means sharply scaling up engagement with men and boys. The report also underlines the vital role information and communication technologies can play in amplifying women's voices, expanding their economic and learning opportunities, and broadening their views and aspirations. The World Bank Group's twin goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity demand no less than the full and equal participation of women and men, girls and boys, around the world." -- Publisher's description.

Having a child remains one of the biggest health risks for women worldwide. Fifteen hundred women die every day while giving birth. That's a half a million mothers every year. UNICEF's flagship publication, The State of the World's Children 2009, addresses maternal mortality, one of the most intractable problems for development work.The difference in pregnancy risk between women in developing countries and their peers in the industrialised world is often termed the greatest health divide in the world. A woman in Niger has a one in seven chance of dying during the course of her lifetime from complications during pregnancy or delivery. That's in stark contrast to the risk for mothers in America, where it's one in 4,800 or in Ireland, where it's just one in 48,000. Addressing that gap is a multidisciplinary challenge, requiring an emphasis on education, human resources, community involvement and social equality. At a minimum, women must be guaranteed antenatal care, skilled birth attendants and emergency obstetrics, and postpartum care. These essential interventions will only be guaranteed within the context of improved education and the abolition of discrimination.