NCJ Number
190065
Journal
Drug and Alcohol Review Volume: 20 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2001 Pages: 239-245
Date Published
June 2001
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article showed, through the use of project-based case studies, that harm reduction was an important and necessary component in working with heroin users of Vietnamese ethnicity in Australia.
Abstract
During the 1990's, evidence emerged that heroin users of Vietnamese ethnicity were potentially experiencing high levels of harm associated with their drug use. The projects described in this article constitute building blocks in Australia's emerging work with ethnic Vietnamese drug users. Recognizing that traditional methods of drug treatment had been ineffective with Vietnamese, even when the language barrier was addressed, targeted projects were developed to approach harm-reduction issues through the lens of peer-connectedness. Since 1997 three targeted peer-based research and/or education projects have been implemented by the Centre for Harm Reduction and The School of Medical Education at the University of New South Wales. The first component involved ethnographic fieldwork and semistructured interviews with 52 young Indo-Chinese injecting drug users. The second consisted of structured interviews with 184 young Indo-Chinese injecting drug users. Data were used to inform the third component: development of a pilot targeted peer education intervention designed to increase blood awareness, improve knowledge of blood-borne viruses and their transmission, and to equip youth with practical strategies for safer drug use. In early 2000, as part of its community consultation into a proposed trial of safe injecting facilities (SIFs), the Victorian government's Drug Policy Expert Committee commissioned consultations that focused on Vietnamese injecting drug users. The ethnic Vietnamese illicit drug users consulted were overwhelmingly positive about these facilities, agreeing with the broadly accepted social and health benefits of the safe injecting concept. Another project involved the incorporation of developmental writing and peer-based education as part of the construction of a website on drug-related harms that targeted youth with Asian backgrounds. Where possible, the projects have encouraged ownership of the projects by peer groups and an effort to build their capacity to conduct action-oriented, harm-reduction research and peer education. 24 references