The Organization of a Community: Community-Based Prevention of Injecting Drug Use–Related Health Problems

Abstract

In the 1980s, injection drug users in Australia mobilized and organized as communities to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, and other injecting-related harms. This article provides a brief history of the development and role of IDU communities in the prevention of drug use–related harms over the past 20 years and introduces the genesis of a new program that aims to improve peer-based, community-organized prevention and harm reduction initiatives. The project's limitations are noted and future needed research is suggested.

Keywords:

• community-based prevention
• risk levels
• harm reduction
• community action
• injection drug users (IDUs)
• social networks
• marginalized youth

Notes

^† Treatment can be briefly and usefully defined as a planned, goal-directed change process, which is bounded (culture, place, time, etc.) and can be categorized into professional-based, tradition-based, mutual help-based (AA, NA, etc.), and self-help (“natural recovery”) models. There are no unique models or techniques used with substance users—of whatever types—that are not also used with non-substance users. In the West, with the relatively new ideology of “harm reduction,” there is now a new set of goals in addition to those derived from/associated with the older tradition of abstinence-driven models. Editor's note.