The Trend of Utilization of Opioid Substitution Therapy Services in the Prepandemic Era in a Tertiary Medical College in India

Opioid substitution therapy was incorporated into the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) in 2007, during the third phase.Since 2010, OST centers have been operated in a public health model in some government hospitals in a collaborative approach with full-time dedicated manpower comprising a doctor, a nursing professional, a counselor or clinical psychologist, and a data manager.By virtue of the OST program, it was targeted to IntroductIonIndia has successfully managed to control the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection with the guidance of the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO).However, in some highrisk groups, the prevalence of HIV infection is increasing.In several sentinel surveillance studies, it has been found that the prevalence of HIV infection can be as high as 5% among intravenous drug users (IDUs).This document is a review of the document "Buprenorphine Substitution Therapy for Opioid Injection Drug Users: Practice Guidelines" which was developed to guide the implementation of the NACO-assisted opioid substitution therapy (OST) program in India.HIV prevalence among IDUs in India is 7.2%, the highest among all population groups.The targeted interventions for risk reduction include: (1) needlesyringe exchange programs, (2) antiretroviral therapy (ART), (3) OST, (4) integrated counseling and testing centers (ICTC), (5) primary and secondary level prevention for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), (6) free distribution of condoms (barrier contraceptives) for IDUs and their partners, (7) providing information, education, and communication (IEC) materials to the targeted and high-risk groups, (8) primary and secondary prevention of more prevalent tropical infectious diseases like tuberculosis, and (9) early diagnosis and treatment as well as prevention of viral hepatitis.1,2