Nikhil Aiyush Kumar 
[file photo]
A recent survey by the Kirby Institute in Suva finds that the drug practice known as Bluetoothing is extremely rare.
Researchers say most drug users have heard of it but almost none have tried it and some have only seen others attempt it.
Bluetoothing is a dangerous practice where someone injects another person’s blood after they have used drugs, hoping to share the high.
Kirby Institute expert Virginia McDonald pointed out that the practice is ineffective and does not produce the intended high.
“I know there’s been a lot of media attention on Bluetoothing, but when we interviewed the drug users, they had heard of Bluetoothing, but not many of them had done it, or none of them actually, and some of them reported they had seen other people doing it.”
National HIV Outbreak Taskforce Representative Dr Dashika Balak states efforts are underway to protect the wider population.
“So while we are advocating for people who inject drugs, we still need to have other interventions for the other populations who are continuously being exposed to HIV.”
Public health experts are calling for urgent harm reduction measures.
They say making sterile syringes more accessible and affordable is crucial to curb the spread of HIV and other infectious diseases among drug users.
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