Grant: Fellowship - PA: Health Services/Population Health HIV/AIDS Research

People who inject drugs continue to experience some of the highest rates of violence and among the worst health outcomes in Canada and internationally. Research has demonstrated that women and young people experience violence and engage in HIV risk behaviours in unique ways. Therefore it is important to examine how social and structural factors affect youth and women who use illicit drugs to better inform the development of tailored interventions addressing violence and HIV infection. The objective of my proposal is to inform policy and programming to improve the health of drug users in Canada, particularly women and youth. I will examine structural features of health programmes and services for youth, including age limits on HIV prevention supplies and abstinence-based policies in health and housing services, and how these features affect exposure to violence and associated HIV risk. Second, I will examine the role of social networks and supports including friends, partners and family on the production of violence and HIV-related risks. I will conduct a nine-month critical ethnography and conduct in-depth interviews with street youth and adults who inject drugs and local service providers. The findings will contribute to developing knowledge and strategies to reduce the violence and harms young people and women who use drugs face.