We have recently completed a major national consultation on the emergence of a range of data-driven methods intended to support the health needs of people who use illicit drugs and those with related health issues, such as hepatitis C. The consultation explored expert understandings of these methods, how and why these methods are being developed and implemented, the benefits and concerns experts perceive them to carry, and reflections on research and development priorities into the future. The team interviewed a range of experts for this consultation, including health professionals, policymakers, legal specialists, artificial intelligence (AI) experts, and consumer and peer advocates.
The consultation found that data-driven methods take a variety of forms, and include the use of data-processing tools, including machine learning and big data, to identify people who use drugs and to link them with health and harm reduction services; and methods to predict populations of people who might use drugs to improve knowledge on the potential incidence and prevalence of drug-related issues so as to develop tailored legal, policy and service solutions.
The main findings of the report are:
- People who use drugs and related populations (such as people affected by hepatitis C) have unique healthcare needs, and that there is a need to do more work to improve their health outcomes.
- A range of methods are in use and development to try and address these healthcare needs, including many of which are data-driven strategies involving experimentation with data linkage and surveillance, machine learning, and AI.
- These methods offer potential benefits as well as risks. Benefits include improved healthcare, while risks include the generation or exacerbation of stigma, an erosion of trust, legal and human rights violations, and an intensification of surveillance of vulnerable groups.
- There is a need for further research on these issues. Crucially, research must involve comprehensive and sustained engagement with affected communities through co-design and related methods. A range of priorities for future research were identified, and these are detailed in the report.
This report is intended to inform researchers, policymakers, legislators, advocates including lawyers, relevant service providers, affected communities (including communities of people who use drugs) and researchers about the emergence of methods. The report also documents areas requiring further investigation and action. As such, the report aims to act as as a guiding resource for future work in this area.
The national consultation is a collaboration between Program Lead Professor Kate Seear, Dr Alejandra Zuluaga Duque (Deakin University), Emily Lenton (La Trobe University), Professor kylie valentine (University of New South Wales) and Dr Thao Phan (Australian National University), and was made possible by funding provided by the Deakin Law School, in the Faculty of Business and Law at Deakin University. The team gratefully acknowledges the contributions of all interview participants in this project.
The full report can be found here: