Team grant on social and structural violence and HIV among vulnerable populations

Social and structural violence and HIV risk among sex workers and people who inject drugs (IDU) continue to be major problems within Canada and internationally, with women and youth disproportionately impacted. This interdisciplinary and intersectoral team grant aims to develop a research agenda examining how social and structural violence produce and reproduce interpersonal violence and gendered HIV risk patterns among sex workers (SW) and people who inject drugs (IDU). Our team grant involves bringing together researchers from various disciplines and institutions and knowledge users (policy makers, community organizations, sex workers and people who use drugs) to develop research capacity and ethical knowledge exchange on gender, violence and HIV in Canada and other international settings (Thailand, Uganda). Drawing on our integrated theoretical framework that adopts a sex and gender-based analyses, our team will aim to foster a research agenda to examine effects of criminalization, urban development, stigma on violence and HIV risk in Vancouver and comparative settings. We will also seek to inform and evaluate interventions that aim to reduce violence. Through this team grant, we will develop a research and KT platform to create synergies that would not otherwise exist and which could not be fostered through single project/grant initiatives. Our proposed team will aim to foster ethical knowledge exchange to optimize the uptake and integration of research findings into policy and program development to reduce violence and HIV risk among sex workers and people who inject drugs. By bringing together this unique and diverse team, we seek to build synergies and address these gaps in knowledge, policy, and intervention, and thereby improve the health of vulnerable populations in Canada and elsewhere.