Cost-effective ways to combat HIV risk among intravenous drug users identified
"There's an opioid epidemic in our country, and there's a real public health crisis associated with injecting," said Cora Bernard, a graduate student in management science and engineering. "We think it's important to understand what investments give highest value because HIV prevention programs, and especially programs that reduce the prevalence of injection drug use, can have outsized, positive impact on individuals, families and public safety." Bernard is the lead author of a study on prevention programs that could head off a resurgence of HIV and perhaps decrease the effects of the opioid crisis. The study will be published online May 24 in PLOS Medicine . The senior author is Margaret Brandeau, PhD, professor of management science and engineering. In July 2016, Bernard and her co-authors published a different study examining pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, a pill that reduces a person's risk of infection when they come into contact with...