Box 1: Injecting substance use and HIV/AIDS

"Globally, the percentage of persons living with HIV/AIDS who also inject psychoactive substances is 5% or 2.1 million people in more than 100 countries.

Globally, the proportion of adults living with HIV/AIDS who acquired HIV through injecting psychoactive substances is 5%, though this number varies greatly by region. It is as high as 50-90% in eastern Europe, Central Asia, East Asia, and the Pacific regions, and 25-50% in North America and western Europe.

Treatment and prevention of injection of psychoactive substances can help

in the prevention of the spread of HIV infection.

HIV/AIDS prevention and care should be integrated into substance dependence treatment."

Source: WHO  Neuroscience of psychoactive substance use and dependence, Summary (2004),
Global use of psychoactive substances and burden to health, Box 1., p.11