Risk for Hepatitis C: Transition and Initiation to Injecting Drug Use Among Youth in a Range of Infecting Drug User Networks

Abstract

This project, funded by NHMRC and NSW Health, aimed to investigate and report on a number of aspects of initiation and transition to injecting drug use among young people. The report focuses on issues of: • transition to injecting – what drugs were used prior to injection, what was participants’ contact with injectors; • the initiation episode – describing the factors about the occasion (what drugs were used, where injecting equipment was accessed), as well as characteristics of the initiator and their social networks; • the effect of drug most frequently used – between current stimulant and opioid injectors; • age at initiation – differences between early and late initiators; • hepatitis C status – self-reporting of positive hepatitis C serostatus; • risk practice for blood borne viruses – variables of risk, demography, and social networks are examined in determining those more likely to self-report risk practices such as sharing, borrowing or re-using injection equipment; • transitions out of injecting – we examine patterns of drug use and efforts of participants to reduce or stop drug use.