This paper addresses the risk of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmissible diseases (STDs) and blood borne viruses (BBVs) to young people who inject drugs. Traditionally, focus has been placed on needle sharing as the major risk of to injecting drug users (IDUs), but current research shows that unprotected sex may be as much or more of a concern. A study of young people who inject drugs and their risk of the transmission of HIV/AIDS through injecting and sexual behaviour undertaken in Perth, Western Australia, showed that there were interactions between having unprotected sex and sharing needles with the same sexual partner. These interactions were mediated through faulty risk perception; the belief that it was possible to tell without discussion whether or not a partner was ‘safe’; the common practice of having unprotected sex with a casual partner while intoxicated and a general dislike of condoms.
The findings are discussed in terms of implications for health professionals working with these populations, and four maxims are outlined: understand the population; understand the constraints; discuss sexual and injecting risk and teach communication skills.