Background: Ukraine's HIV epidemic, primarily affecting people who inject drugs (PWID), is expanding and transitioning despite free opioid substitution therapy (OST) and antiretroviral therapy (ART), two effective ways to reduce HIV transmission. Police detention of PWID not resulting in a formal charge or imprisonment is common, but its prevalence and impact on health are not known.
Method: HIV-infected individuals (N=97) released from prison within one year were recruited and surveyed in two HIV-endemic Ukrainian cities about post-release police detention experiences. Data on the frequency of police detention, related adverse events, and impact on OST and ART continuity were collected, and correlates of detention were examined using logistic regression.
Results: Detention responses were available for 94 (96.9%) participants, of which 55 (58.5%) reported police detentions (mean=9.4 per person-year). For those detained while prescribed OST (N=28) and ART (N=27), medication interruption was common (67.9% and 70.4%, respectively); 23 of 27 participants prescribed OST (85.2%) were detained en route to/from OST treatment. Significant independent correlates of detention without charges included post-release ART prescription (AOR 4.98, p=0.021), current high-risk injection practices (AOR 5.03, p=0.011), male gender (AOR 10.88, p=0.010), and lower lifetime months of imprisonment (AOR 0.99, p=0.031).
Conclusions: HIV-infected individuals recently released from prison in Ukraine experience frequent police detentions, resulting in withdrawal symptoms, confiscation of syringes, and interruptions of essential medications, including ART and OST. Structural changes are urgently needed to reduce police detentions in order to control HIV transmission and improve both individual and public health.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3786010 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2013.05.018 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
How we understand fully the supply, demand, and harm reduction in drugs policy in Vietnam?
Harm Reduct J
November 2024
School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith University, Mt Gravatt, QLD, 4122, Australia.
Article Synopsis
- Vietnam has prioritized preventing drug-related crimes and rehabilitating users since the 1990s, but has faced challenges in fully implementing harm reduction strategies.
- The country’s anti-narcotic approach emphasizes zero tolerance for traffickers and often leads to imprisonment of drug users instead of providing health support.
- Despite official commitments to harm minimization, discrepancies in policies and practices hinder effective implementation, with recommendations for improving harm reduction in policing being proposed.
Transactional sex and its associated factors among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in Nepal.
Sex Health
October 2024
Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA; and Yale School of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases, 135 College Street, Suite 323, New Haven, CT 06510, USA.
Article Synopsis
- Transactional sex, the exchange of sex for money or goods, poses health risks such as HIV and mental health issues, particularly among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) in Nepal, an area previously under-researched.
- A study conducted with 250 GBMSM in Kathmandu Valley revealed that 16.4% had engaged in transactional sex in the past 6 months, with financial dependence and experiences of police detention being significant risk factors.
- The findings highlight the need for targeted interventions to address social and legal challenges faced by GBMSM to reduce the prevalence of transactional sex and its health risks.
Linkage facilitation for opioid use disorder in criminal legal system contexts: a primer for researchers, clinicians, and legal practitioners.
Health Justice
August 2024
Department of Psychology, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USA.
At the intersection of drug policy, the opioid crisis, and fragmented care systems, persons with opioid use disorder (OUD) in the United States are significantly vulnerable to contact with the criminal legal system (CLS). In CLS settings, provision of evidence-based treatment for OUD is variable and often secondary to punitive approaches. Linkage facilitation at every touch point along the CLS Sequential Intercept Model has potential to redirect persons with OUD into recovery-oriented systems of care, increase evidence-based OUD treatment connections, and therefore reduce CLS re-exposure risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEuthanasia in detention and the ethics of caring solidarity: A case study of the 'Tarragona Gunman'.
Bioethics
October 2024
Department of Philosophy I, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
Almost a year after the enactment of the law regulating euthanasia in Spain, public opinion was shocked to learn that a defendant in criminal proceedings obtained medical assistance in dying following injuries sustained in an exchange of gunfire with the police after having committed a series of severe crimes. Although there are very few cases in the world where prisoners have received euthanasia, the one we will discuss in this article is the only known case where both the public prosecutor's office and the private prosecutors judicially opposed the defendant's euthanasia. This article aims to offer a new perspective on the ethical legitimacy of detainees' access to euthanasia: the ethics of caring solidarity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF"They Don't Care If We Live or Die": A Qualitative Analysis Examining the US Immigration System's Treatment of Undocumented Communities during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Ethn Dis
January 2024
COVID-19 Task Force on Racism & Equity, Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice, and Health, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA.
Historically, the US immigration system (ie, institutions, agencies, and laws) has served the goals and principles of white supremacy through its treatment of globally displaced people and this appears to have continued through the COVID pandemic. Yet, the implications for immigrant health are not routinely addressed in mainstream public health discourse, and especially so in regard to public health disasters. This study conducted a series of focus groups with participants from social justice organizations working with immigrants, migrants, undocumented persons, refugees, persons seeking asylum, and persons detained in immigration jails to collect stories on how the immigration system undermined efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 and exacerbated health inequity within immigrant jails and across related community contexts during the pandemic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!