Join Us

Everything On My Own. A Policy Brief On Women Who Use Drugs In Malaysia

This report and the study informing it was made possible by the collaborative guidance and input of numerous organisations, academics, advocates, people living with HIV and key affected populations. It was funded by the European Union with technical assistance from the International HIV/AIDS Alliance under the Asia Action project (2013-2015). Ethics approval was obtained from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in Penang, Malaysia. Many thanks to Associate Professor B. Vicknasingam, principal investigator on the study for the Drug Research Centre at USM for his involvement in this study, and Priya Lall, Claudia Stoicescu, Kate Iorpenda and Zaki Arzmi for reviewing sections of the report and providing input and guidance. Thank you to Fatien Eleena Jabridin for being our dialect interpreter in Kelantan. Thanks also to Susie McLean, Olga Golichenko, and Claire Mathonsi at the International HIV/AIDS Alliance for continuing technical and moral support on our Women who Use Drugs qualitative research.

There is limited data on the experiences and needs of women who use drugs in Malaysia. Research elsewhere has shown that women who use drugs face increased increased risks of HIV transmission, higher levels of stigma compared to men who use drugs, high levels of intimate partner violence, and mental illness.