THRIVE: Strengthening Health Equity for People Who Use Drugs in Small Urban, Rural and Remote Communities in BC

Significant inequities in health outcomes have been observed among people who use drugs, including being disproportionately affected by HIV, viral hepatitis, syphilis and other STBBI’s. These inequities worsen in small urban, rural and remote (SURR) communities in BC, as geographical or social barriers such as stigma, privacy and confidentiality concerns, as well as lack of health care capacity, impact healthcare access. To respond to these issues, PAN is leading THRIVE: Strengthen STBBI-Related Health Equity for People Who Use Drugs in Small Urban, Rural and Remote Communities in BC.

Our Aim:

The aim of the THRIVE STBBI CBR Team Grant is to develop and implement a community-centred approach to address HIV, viral hepatitis, syphilis and other STBBI among people who use drugs, in SURR communities in BC by improving prevention, innovative testing and care engagement, and reducing stigma through collaborative development, implementation, evaluation and knowledge exchange of innovative prevention and testing, care engagement and stigma reduction initiatives.

Objectives:

 1. Meaningfully engage PWUD and SURR communities to develop a Full Thrive STBBI CBR Team grant proposal to ensure that key populations are included in all phases of the CBR team activities.

2. Identify barriers and facilitators for HIV, hepatitis C, syphilis and other STBBI services among people who use drugs, in SURR communities, recognizing the community-led intervention innovations as well as the intricate and intersectional aspects of risk factors, transmission pathways, and care engagement to improve health equity, by conducting an environmental scan and scoping review.

3. Build and bridge capacity and collaboration in SURR communities among people who use drugs,, CBOs, peer-led groups, harm reduction providers, policymakers, academics, and community-based researchers to develop an understanding of contexts and lived realities within communities.

Outcome and Impacts:

This project aims to improve overall health outcomes among PWUD in SURR communities by reducing barriers to access to prevention, testing and care engagement services, which, in the long-term, will result in lower transmission rates of HIV, hepatitis C, syphilis and other STBBI’s. This project will contribute to broader policy and system changes by informing policy and advocacy efforts for resource allocation, supportive policies and programs, that prioritize the HIV, hepatitis C, syphilis, and other STBBIs testing and care needs of PWUD in SURR communities.

We are currently recruiting people with lived or living experience of drug use, community organizations, service providers, knowledge users, collaborators, and partners to join our monthly virtual THRIVE Community Roundtable that will run from January – June 2025.  

For more information on the study, please contact Jennifer Demchuk at [email protected]