Throughout the world, people who inject drugs (PWID) are all too familiar with stigmatization, vulnerability, marginalization and high risk for HIV. The situation is even worse for women who inject drugs (WID), who are often ignored and invisible within the larger drug-using population.
National and international research, services, guidelines, training programmes and surveillance concerning people who inject drugs remain overwhelmingly gender-neutral or male-focused. Partly as a result, limited data exist on the role women play among those who inject drugs, and their specific challenges and needs are rarely recognized or understood.