When: May 8–9, 2007
Where: NIH Campus, Natcher Conference Center, Bethesda, MD
Institute: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Drug abuse and addiction continue to fuel the spread of HIV/AIDS in the United States and abroad. To address this significant public health threat, research is examining every aspect of HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, and addiction, including risk behaviors associated with both injection and non-injection drug abuse, how drugs of abuse alter brain function and impair decision making, and HIV prevention and treatment strategies for diverse groups.

This NIDA meeting will provide a broad understanding of the multiple ways that drug abuse and addiction affect HIV/AIDS and how research can inform public health policy. Presentations will focus on the successes, research challenges, and opportunities for addressing the evolving HIV/AIDS pandemic. Attendees will be drawn from the research community, public health organizations, federal agencies, and drug abuse and HIV/AIDS organizations.

Topics that will be covered include, but are not limited to, the following:

• How drugs of abuse alter brain function, leading to impaired decision making and risky behaviors, which in turn can facilitate the acquisition and transmission of HIV;
  
  
• How and to what extent substance abuse influences sexual risk behaviors;
  
  
• How substance abuse affects HIV/AIDS risk in diverse populations (e.g., adolescents, minorities, those involved with the criminal justice system); and
  
  
• How testing and counseling can be incorporated as a key component of HIV prevention strategies for drug-abusing populations.

Next Steps
For agenda and registration information, visit http://conferences.masimax.com/riskybehaviors.

^ TOP OF PAGE