Abstract:
The emergency of injecting drug use and the possibility of transmission of human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among injecting drug users (lDUs) , their partners and
their children, is a major public health concern. Recent researches have shown that one
of the core risk behaviours that is behind the spread ofHIV through injecting drug use is
the sharing of injecting equipment, which is greatly influenced by drug injecting
practices.
Most of the studies conducted suggest an extensive occurrence of risk injecting practices
and a high potential of escalation of HIV epidemics among injecting drug users.
However, available information does not provide exact explanation on HIV risk
characteristics of IDUs, levels of risk drug injecting practices and the extent of HIV
infection among IDUs. This information is essential in designing appropriate HIV
interventions and prevention strategies among IDUs.
This study was therefore conducted to investigate drug injecting practices and HIV
seropositivity among selected injecting drug users in Kinondoni Municipality, Dar es
Salaam. This cross-sectional study was carried out in May, 2004 and involved 201
consenting IDUs who were recruited by snowballing method. Structured interviews
covering demographic characteristics, social development of injecting drug use, current
HIV risk drug use behaviour in t he last 6 months were administered. S erum samples
were collected for HIV antibody testing.
XIV
Respondents ranged from 18 to 48 years of age (mean =29.4) and 84.1% of them were
males. The first common substance of abuse reported was cigarette (56.2%). Mean age
of injection initiation was 25.5 years. Heroin was the most common used drug by all
respondents. Multiple unsafe injecting practices were common. Over 73% of the
respondents injected 3 times a day. The reported needles/syringes sharing was high,
40.3% of mus reported using a syringe previously used by another mus. A great
proportion (45.7%) of the respondents shared injecting equipment with 2 to 5 people. Of
those who shared 95.1 % cleaned the needles/syringes before use, however, the
procedure they used was not sufficient to kill any virus present. The overall HIV
prevalence among the respondents was 31.3%. Females had a higher HIV
seroprevalence of75% than males who had a seroprevalence of23.1 %.
The high HIV prevalence and the existence of high-risk drug injecting practices indicate
a potential for rapid HIV spread in mus in Kinondoni Municipality. Preventive
measures that will target specifically mus to reduce the high risk injecting practices are
urgently needed to reduce HIV transmission among mus and from mus to the general
population. One would recommend that harm reduction approach be adopted that will
involve needle exchange programmes.
