ABSTRACT
This chapter starts with an examination of the role of injecting drug use in the epidemiology of HIV, and why women who have some connection with injecting drug use are becoming the focus of widespread concern. The analysis leads to a proposition that among these women it is the female injecting drug user with a regular, primary partner who deserves most attention. In addition to a susceptibility to infection because of debilitation through drugs, she is highly vulnerable to HIV through sexual transmission and through sharing injecting equipment with her partner. She may have little control over her partner's injecting and sexual activities outside the relationship. She is also likely to be out of reach of helping agencies that could support her.
