HIV infection associated with drug injecting in the Newly Independent States, eastern Europe: the social and economic context of epidemics

Abstract

An understanding of the social and economic contexts mediating HIV spread is a prerequiste to identifying the environmental "pre-conditions" of epidemic outbreaks, and thus also, for predicting and preventing HIV transmission. The "risk environment" may influence the efficacy of individual and community-level HIV prevention and highlights the concomitant urgency for interventions targeting social and environmental change.