Hospital health care for HIV infection with particular reference to injecting drug users

Abstract

Models of health care developed for HIV and AIDS tend to reflect the experience of San Francisco or London where the majority of patients affected have been homosexual or bisexual. The services developed in these areas may not be appropriate for other risk groups such as injecting drug users. The author, who has been closely involved in developing an HIV service in Edinburgh mainly for injection drug users, undertook a travel fellowship to compare and contrast HIV medical services in Amsterdam, New York and San Francisco with particular regard to what was available for injecting drug users. The provision of drug related and HIV medical services at the same site by the same doctors appears to provide the most efficient service but has yet to be systematically evaluated.