More stable housing for injection drug users in Prince George is needed to prevent the spread of HIV, according to the author of a new study.
Northern Medical Program associate professor Russ Callaghan said a lack of consistent housing options leads to riskier behaviour and could lead to the spread of infectious diseases like HIV or hepatitis C.
"We know that if people don't have stable living arrangements, often what will happen is people will get into situations where they're not well rested or not rested at all, they're exchanging sex for drugs or for some place to sleep for the night," Callaghan said. "We know that people that don't have housing, not only people with injection drug use, but anyone, makes poor decisions."
The study, released Thursday morning,shows the rates of HIV among injection drug users in Prince George fell marginally over the last four years, but Callaghan said it's still among the highest in the country for communities who participated in the Public Health Agency of Canada I-Track Survey.
Of the 144 people who were asked survey questions and who submitted blood samples for testing, 16 per cent tested positive for HIV. That's down from 18 per cent of participants when the study was first conducted in 2008.
Hepatitis C rates also dropped, but remain alarmingly high. In 2008, 77 per cent of those surveyed tested positive for the disease compared to 65 per cent in 2012.
"We have a major public health issue here in northern B.C., it's not relegated only to [Vancouver's] Downtown Eastside," Callaghan said.
Since participants are anonymous, there was no way to track specific individuals who may have participated in both studies.
Callaghan said the fact the rates for the diseases remained stable or declined is a positive development and credited the work of the Stop HIV/AIDS program with helping to build momentum in the fight against the disease.
He said international studies have shown that once HIV infection rates go above 10 per cent in a certain community, the rates often balloon quickly - but that hasn't happened in Prince George. It could be attributed to the fact that many of the injection drug users know each other.
"In some ways that's a good news story, that it hasn't gone from the 15 to 20 per cent range to 30 or 40 per cent range," Callaghan said. "We have a fairly small, but dense network of people using injection drugs."
One of the biggest risk factors for spreading HIV among injection drug users is not using sterile needles. Approximately 30 per cent of respondents to the survey indicated that they borrowed needles in the last six months and Callaghan said that rate could be even higher since the survey interviews were conducted by workers at the needle exchange, which may have biased respondents to not admit to sharing.
The survey also found that just under a third of female respondents and over a fifth of males said they started injecting drugs before they reached the age of 16. Callaghan said that shows education campaigns must start early, but since at-risk youth are more likely to turn to drugs if they don't have adequate food or housing, social supports also need to be in place.
"I was really surprised by the finding, that injection drug use began at such an early age," Callaghan said. "That's a concern that all of us in the community are trying to wrestle right now."
With two sets of data in hand, Callaghan said he'd be interested in working with local partners to run the study again in the future. Rather than run it through the I-Track study, he said there is enough local expertise and political will in Prince George to conduct it locally.
In the meantime, he and others like the Northern B.C. First Nations HIV/AIDS Coalition will lobby for changes to make it easier for people to find stable housing, which could limit risky behaviour and perhaps prevent rates from rising.
"In the meetings I've been at where people hear the results they're crestfallen a little bit by the results," Callaghan said. "But at the same time they're emboldened by saying, 'we've really got to advocate for some structural changes around housing and these other kinds of supports.' "
