A mixed method evaluation of the impact of the Dr. Peter Centre on health care access and outcomes for persons living with HIV/AIDS who use illicit drugs

Persons living with HIV/AIDS (PHA) who use illicit drugs often experience poorer health outcomes than those who do not. The Dr. Peter Centre (DPC) is a community-based HIV/AIDS health care centre located in Vancouver, British Columbia (BC) that is run by the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation. As a strategy to address this problem, the DPC offers a combination of services to vulnerable PHA, many of whom use drugs. These services include harm reduction services (including supervised injection services), social programs, counselling services, meals, housing referrals, and referrals to mental health resources.

Persons living with HIV/AIDS (PHA) who use illicit drugs often experience poorer health outcomes than those who do not. The Dr. Peter Centre (DPC) is a community-based HIV/AIDS health care centre located in Vancouver, British Columbia (BC) that is run by the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation. As a strategy to address this problem, the DPC offers a combination of services to vulnerable PHA, many of whom use drugs. These services include harm reduction services (including supervised injection services), social programs, counselling services, meals, housing referrals, and referrals to mental health resources.

The reasoning behind this approach is that ameliorating barriers such as drug use, poverty, homelessness, food insecurity, unemployment and mental health issues will help PHA access appropriate health care. Both the Office of the Provincial Health Officer of BC and the Provincial Health Officers Council have endorsed client-focused health care as a health care delivery model that should be expanded in BC, and health authorities in other provinces are also interested in learning more about this. To help guide the future development of client-focused health care, we propose to evaluate the effectiveness of exposure to the DPC on treatment outcomes for HIV infection and well-being of DPC clients.

The project team is a collaborative partnership between the DPC, the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and decision-makers from BC and Saskatchewan. Affected community members will participate in the research process and on the Community Advisory Group, which will provide input throughout the study period. The results of the study will be used to develop recommendations for action by policy makers and health service providers, as well as educate and sensitize them about the concerns of PHA who use drugs, thus helping them to better support patients who have traditionally been disengaged with the health and medical system.