IV drug use

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A relatively simple effort to provide counseling and connect injection-drug users with resources could prove powerful against the spread of HIV in a notoriously hard-to-reach population, new research suggests.

The study increased by almost 30 percent the use of antiretroviral medications to suppress HIV infection, according to the study, which appears in The Lancet.

Ryan Yoder’s volunteer work at Safe Point began with small tasks: transporting syringes, handing out brochures on HIV and Hepatitis and restocking tourniquets. A year and a half later, he’s one of only three staff members supporting one of Columbus’s comprehensive harm reduction program for intravenous drug use.

Yoder had no idea that volunteering at Safe Point would be the beginning of a much larger journey that would have an impact not only on the clients he served, but on him as well.