Most-at-risk populations

Focusing attention on population groups who may be most at risk of HIV infection through their behaviour, such as sex workers and their clients, injecting drug users, men who have sex with men and prisoners, is an important priority for the health sector. Promoting condom use and appropriately managing sexually transmitted infections are essential to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV. The health sector also delivers a range of interventions to reduce HIV transmission through injecting drug use and to provide treatment and care to injecting drug users, including antiretroviral therapy, opioid substitution therapy and other pharmacotherapy for substance dependence, as well as specific harm reduction interventions such as needle and syringe programmes. In addition, HIV testing and counselling needs to be integrated into services for managing sexually transmitted infections, reproductive health, harm reduction, prison health and primary health care to strengthen efforts to prevent HIV transmission.

In many countries, population groups at high risk of HIV transmission face barriers to accessing health services due to discrimination, social marginalization and unfavourable legislation such as laws criminalizing sex work, injecting drug use and homosexuality.