Prevention and control of infectious diseases among people who inject drugs — 2023 update

This joint guidance report explores good public health practices that can support effective policies to reduce infections. Common blood-borne viruses in this group include HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. These are mainly spread through the sharing of needles, syringes and drug preparation equipment or unprotected sexual contacts.

In the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) and countries in the eastern European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) area, hepatitis B and C, HIV and tuberculosis (TB) continue to circulate and cause substantial morbidity and mortality. These diseases are the focus of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) 3.3, which is to ‘end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases’ by 2030.

This document is an update of a joint guidance that was published in 2011 by ECDC and the EMCDDA.