Publications by authors named "Annie Madden"

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for all people at substantial risk of HIV as part of combination prevention. The extent to which this recommendation has been implemented globally for people who inject drugs is unclear. This study mapped global service delivery of PrEP for people who inject drugs.

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The World Health Organisation has established a goal of eliminating the hepatitis C virus (HCV) as a public health threat by 2030. Considerable effort is being directed towards research to support and enhance HCV treatment uptake among people who inject drugs, but there is a distinct lack of attention given to gender in this work. We argue that a gender lens is needed to make visible the limitations of current HCV elimination research, and support the development of innovative, inclusive approaches to HCV treatment.

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The discrimination faced by people understood to have alcohol or other drug addictions has been the subject of extensive research, with many studies documenting experiences of stigma within healthcare services. Building on this literature, we examine the role of stigma in shaping the healthcare expectations of people seen as affected by alcohol and other drug addictions. Our analysis draws on recent theorisations of stigma as a process of social production to analyse in-depth, qualitative interviews with 20 people who had recently attended an inpatient withdrawal management service.

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Background: The importance of engaging people who use drugs in drug policy development is increasingly acknowledged including in recent UN documents. Little scholarly attention has been paid to 'drug user representation' in the global drug policy setting of the UN such as the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND). This paper examines 'drug user representation' in key UN drug policy processes over three decades.

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This article explores the role of drug use-related stigma in constraining access to healthcare services. Drawing on interviews with 20 people conducted shortly after leaving an Australian alcohol and other drug withdrawal management unit, the article explores their willingness and ability to access primary care, hospital and further services. It finds repeated descriptions of feeling ignored and shamed during efforts to access care, with some descriptions relating to subtle signs of disapproval or condemnation, and others to being ignored or dismissed.

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Background: Achieving hepatitis C (HCV) elimination goals will require major policy and health service reorientation to scale up testing and treatment among people who inject drugs (PWID). To achieve this, a close partnership with peer-based drug user organisations is required. However, peer organisations have historical and ongoing difficulties in articulating the validity of their service delivery and policy advice, leading to some policy and health services resisting partnership and advice from peer-based drug user organisations.

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Recent advances in the efficacy and tolerability of hepatitis C treatments and the introduction of a universal access scheme for the new Direct Acting Antiviral (DAA) therapies in March 2016, has resulted in a rapid increase in the uptake of hepatitis C treatment in Australia. Despite these positive developments, recent data suggest a plateauing of treatment numbers, indicating that more work may need to be done to identify and address ongoing barriers to hepatitis C treatment access and uptake. This paper aims to contribute to our understanding of the ongoing barriers to DAA therapies, with a focus on people who inject drugs.

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Background: Growing international interest in mechanisms to capture and measure experiences and outcomes of health interventions from the patient perspective has led to the development of patient-reported measures (PRMs) across many areas of medicine. Although PRMs are now well utilised in some settings, the rapidly expanding area of direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatments for hepatitis C has received remarkably little attention. In addition, questions are also being raised about the extent to which patients have been involved in the development of PRMs, which are primarily designed to reflect the patient perspective.

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The central role of community and peer-led programs has been a key characteristic of the Australian partnership response to HIV and hepatitis C since the beginning of the epidemics. Despite this, peer-led programs continue to have limited capacity to demonstrate their role and value as part of a multi-sectoral response. What makes one peer-led program a better investment than another? What role does the rest of the sector have in ensuring we gain the most value from these investments? To investigate this, we facilitated interactive systems thinking methods with 10 programs working within communities of people who inject drugs, gay men, sex workers and people living with HIV across Australia.

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Article Synopsis
  • A study involving interviews with 24 people who inject drugs found they value outcomes beyond just being cured, such as improvements in physical and mental health, identity, social relationships, and future health risk management.
  • The conclusions emphasize the need to consider these broader aspects of recovery in HCV treatment to enhance patient engagement and develop more patient-centered treatment approaches.
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This commentary seeks to examine the role, value and importance of peer-based programmatic approaches for ensuring the effective roll-out of the new hepatitis C (HCV) treatments among those most affected - that is, people who inject drugs (PWID). The authors examine recent approaches to HCV treatment in Australia including the provision of universal access to the new DAA regimens regardless of acquisition, genotype or severity of disease. These approaches are contextualised within wider global strategies to support HCV elimination as a public health threat by 2030 (WHO, 2016).

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Background And Aims: Potential Australian blood donors are deferred indefinitely if they report a history of injecting drug use (IDU), or for 12 months if they report having engaged in sexual activity with someone who might have ever injected. Given incremental improvements in blood safety, this study sought to examine whether Australia's IDU-related eligibility criteria reflected current scientific evidence, were consistent with international best practice and, if current IDU-related policies were to be changed, how this should happen.

Methods: An expert committee was formed to review relevant literature with a focus on issues including: the epidemiology of IDU in Australia and key transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs) among Australian people who inject drugs (PWID); and, 'non-compliance' among PWID regarding IDU-related blood donation guidelines.

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Background: Although an estimated 3.5 million women inject drugs globally, women are outnumbered 4 to one by men who inject drugs and are often ignored or overlooked in the development and delivery of prevention and treatment services for this population. This study aimed to identify key comorbidities prevalent among women who inject drugs (WWID), consider factors that contribute to vulnerability of this population, and examine implications for prevention and treatment.

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Efficacy trials of preventive hepatitis C virus (HCV) vaccine candidates raise challenging scientific and ethical issues. Based on data from the first 3 years of a community-based prospective observational study - the Hepatitis C Incidence and Transmission Study-community (HITS-c) - this paper examines the feasibility of conducting trials of candidate HCV vaccines with people who inject drugs (PWID) in Sydney, Australia. Of the 166 PWID confirmed HCV antibody negative and eligible for enrolment, 156 (94%) completed baseline procedures.

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Australia's prompt and effective response to HIV among people who inject drugs is recognized internationally. In the early 1980s, there was growing awareness of the evolving threat presented by HIV. Despite erroneous but commonly held assumptions that people who inject drugs generally disregard their health, injecting drug users contributed significantly to Australia's response to HIV.

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Background: In light of the recent debate on the use of financial incentives to promote long-acting contraception and sterilisation among women who use illicit drugs we discuss attitudes to contraception, pregnancy and parenting among Australian women who inject drugs.

Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted with 90 women of reproductive age about contraceptive use, preferences, reproductive histories, attitudes to and experiences of parenting. All women were either currently, or had previously injected drugs.

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Introduction And Aims: While people who inject drugs are at high risk of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and will be the target population for future HCV vaccine trials, little is known about clinical trial literacy (CTL) in this group. We assessed the impact of a brief intervention (BI) designed to improve HCV vaccine CTL among people who inject drugs in Sydney, Australia.

Design And Methods: People who inject drugs enrolled in a community-based prospective observational study between November 2008 and September 2010 (n = 102) completed a CTL assessment followed immediately by the BI.

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This project evaluated consumer participation projects in five drug user treatment services in metropolitan and regional areas in three Australian states. Qualitative interviews were conducted with staff and consumers at two time points between 2008 from 2010 (n = 108). At baseline staff and some consumers focused on the stability of consumers to undertake representative roles.

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People who inject drugs (PWID) are at high risk of HCV. Limited evidence of the effectiveness of prevention interventions and low uptake of treatment in this group highlight the need for increased investment in biomedical interventions, notably safe and efficacious vaccines. While several candidates are currently in development, field trials in PWID present challenges, including ethical issues associated with trial literacy, informed consent and standards of care.

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Introduction And Aims: A consumer satisfaction survey was conducted among clients receiving methadone or buprenorphine treatment for opioid dependence. The survey aimed to assess client perceptions across a number of treatment domains, including the clinic environment, service provision, clinical relationships, medication and treatment outcomes.

Design And Methods: Participants were 432 clients receiving treatment at nine public clinics in New South Wales, Australia.

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