HIV programs for women needed. (Health).VANCOUVER Vancouver, city, Canada Vancouver, city (1991 pop. 471,844), SW British Columbia, Canada, on Burrard Inlet of the Strait of Georgia, opposite Vancouver Island and just N of the Wash. border. -- Gender-specific HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. prevention programs are urgently needed given a 40% higher incidence rate among female injection drug users than males in Vancouver, says a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal The Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) is a general medical journal that is published biweekly by the Canadian Medical Association (CMA). It is considered to be one of the top six general medical journals; the others being the . Before 1995, women accounted for less than 10% of HIV cases in Canada, the study says. By 2000, that number had reached almost 24%, with 39% of those attributed to injection drug use. The study also makes an urgent call for a better understanding of what causes drug-related harm among women in industrialized in·dus·tri·al·ize v. in·dus·tri·al·ized, in·dus·tri·al·iz·ing, in·dus·tri·al·iz·es v.tr. 1. To develop industry in (a country or society, for example). 2. countries. In the study of almost 1,000 injection drug users in Vancouver, researchers found that predictors of HIV infection among women drug users included: * injecting cocaine cocaine (kōkān`, kō`kān), alkaloid drug derived from the leaves of the coca shrub. A commonly abused illegal drug, cocaine has limited medical uses, most often in surgical applications that take advantage of the fact that, in once or more times per day * requiting help injecting * having unsafe sex with a regular partner * having an HIV-positive sex partner. The predictors for male drug users included: * injecting cocaine once or more times per day * self-reporting identification as an Aboriginal * borrowing needles. The difference in risk factors further demonstrates the need for gender-specific programs including needle exchanges, safe injection sites and street nurses, the study says. |
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