Operational Guidelines for the Management of Opioid Dependence in the South-East Asia Region

The South-East Asia Region is home to between 3.4 and 5.6 million injecting drug users. A large proportion of them resort to unsafe injecting practices such as sharing of needles and syringes. This has led to the rapid and large-scale transmission of HIV and hepatitis C in this population and their partners. In order to prevent new infections, countries need to urgently expand the implementation of evidence-based drug treatment interventions. Opioid substitution therapy (OST) is the most useful