Treatment Access for Injecting Drug Users (IDUs) Living with HIV in Asia

Factors such as stigma and discrimination, poverty, criminalization of drug use, sex work and homosexuality, limited antiretroviral therapy (ART) service facilities and lack of trained healthcare professionals on HIV treatment have all been cited as barriers to HIV treatment access for people living with HIV (PLHIV). Although studies have also provided the frameworks for understanding and addressing how gender and sexuality, employment and drug use-based social status have impeded our goal of delivering treatment, care and support to marginalized communities; progress in achieving equitable access on essential HIV healthcare services remains disappointingly slow.

In 2008, the Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (APN+) conducted a network-based research project aiming to explore the experience of women, men who have sex with men/transgender people (MSM/TG) and injecting drug users (IDUs) living with HIV in accessing ART and other HIV-related healthcare services.