As cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus(SARS-CoV-2), continue to spread globally, public healthexperts have warned about the devastating impact this pandemicmay have on society’s most vulnerable [1]. Meanwhile, anotherpublic health crisis, the opioid epidemic, rages on throughout theUnited States [2,3]. In other parts of the world, the use of opiatesand opioids has remained relatively stable; however, in EasternEurope, Russia and Central Asia opiate use has increased [4]. Inthese regions, the prevalence of injection drug use is high, as isprevalence of HIV among people who inject drugs – over 40% inmajor Russian cities according to recent estimates [5]. Worldwidenearly half a million people died as a result of drug misusein 2015; 168,000 of those deaths were due to overdose [6]. Peopleliving with HIV (PLWH) face higher risk of opioid misuse thanHIV-negative people, in part because PLWH are more likely tosuffer chronic pain and receive opioid analgesic treatment forsymptom relief [7,8].
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