New study reveals alarmingly high rates of violence against women who inject drugs in Victoria

A new study has found that more than four in five women who inject drugs have experienced violence, highlighting an urgent gap in national efforts to end violence against women.

Published today in JAMA Network Open, the study, ‘Violence against women who inject drugs in Australia’, looked at the experiences of 431 women in Victoria who have injected drugs. Researchers used survey responses and linked health records, and spoke in depth with ten women about their experiences of seeking support for violence.

The findings reveal a significantly higher burden of violence than the experience of women in the general population.

It found more than 80% of women reported a history of assault and more than one-third reported sexual assault.

Linked hospital, emergency department, ambulance and mortality data from 2008–2019 showed:

• Nearly one in five women had a hospital admission related to assault.

• 23% had an assault-related emergency department presentation.

• 17% had an assault-related ambulance attendance.

“More than four out of five women in this cohort had experienced some form of violence, and nearly 40 per cent had experienced sexual assault,” National Drug Research Institute and Burnet Institute Research Fellow, Dr Samantha Colledge-Frisby said.

While intimate partners were commonly reported perpetrators, women also reported violence from strangers, drug dealers and other people who use drugs. The findings suggest that services focused solely on family violence may not adequately meet the needs of women who inject drugs.

The study also found that only one-third of women who experienced assault sought healthcare.

“Women who inject drugs face overlapping forms of stigma, criminalisation and disadvantage that both increase their risk of violence and make it harder to seek help,” Burnet Research Fellow Dr Ashleigh Stewart said.

“If we are serious about reducing violence in Australia, our prevention and response systems must be inclusive of women who inject drugs, designed to meet their needs and address the challenges they face.”

Nadia Gavin from Harm Reduction Victoria said one way to improve access to care is through tailored, peer-led approaches.

“One way of ensuring women who inject drugs can access healthcare and support is through gender-specific peer support programs staffed and run by living-experience harm reduction peer workers.”

The findings underscore the urgent need for inclusive, evidence-based responses to violence against women who inject drugs.