Injecting equipment provision in Australia: the state of play

Injecting equipment provision measures in Australia can be judged reasonably successful as HIV prevention measures. In the capital cities of all Australian States and Territories, access to needles and syringes is easy, at least during the day in at least some areas. In conjunction with peer education and other activities, needle and syringe supply appears to have led to a change in norms away from the sharing of needles and other injecting equipment among at least older heroin injectors in large population centers. However, in many other areas, and in many subpopulations-particularly further marginalized groups such as Aboriginal and Vietnamese-Australian injectors-messages about HIV/AIDS risk are either not penetrating or are being ignored, and needle and other equipment sharing still appears to be common. The strategy of providing access to needles and syringes as a separate activity from peer education among injecting drug users (IDUs) needs to be reconsidered in the light of the widespread epidemic of hepatitis C among Australian IDUs. The level of supply of all injecting equipment also needs to be increased to assist all IDUs in learning and carrying out an aseptic injecting technique given the lack of an effective disinfection technique to prevent the spread of hepatitis C, and the problems surrounding both the promotion of disinfection and the promotion of noninjecting routes of administration.