AEGiS-15IAC: Community attitudes toward harm reduction for injection drug users (IDUs): evidence from a cross-border HIV prevention project in Ning Ming County (Guangxi), China and Lang Son Province, Vietnam.

15th International AIDS Conference

Bangkok, Thailand - July 11-16, 2004

Community attitudes toward harm reduction for injection drug users (IDUs): evidence from a cross-border HIV prevention project in Ning Ming County (Guangxi), China and Lang Son Province, Vietnam.

Int Conf AIDS 2004 Jul 11-16; 15:(abstract no. TuOrC1113)

Hammett TM, Norton GD, Kling R, Wei L, Yi C, Ngu D, Binh KT, Dong HV, Des Jarlais DC
Abt Associates Inc., Cambridge, MA, United States

BACKGROUND: Community understanding and support are essential to the success of harm reduction interventions for HIV prevention among IDUs. As part of the evaluation of a peer-based intervention involving distribution of new needles/syringes and pharmacy vouchers and collection of used needles/syringes, we monitored community HIV knowledge and attitudes toward the project.

METHODS: Cross-sectional population-based household surveys were conducted in all project sites at baseline and 6 months post-implementation (n=250-343 per country). Cross-sectional surveys of IDUs (allowing linkage of repeat participants across surveys using unique identification numbers) were conducted concurrently.

RESULTS: The following results are from the community surveys: [table: see text] Analysis of IDU surveys showed that obtaining larger numbers of pharmacy vouchers from the project was not associated with increased frequency of heroin injection from baseline to 6-month follow-up (matched

PARTICIPANTS: n=30 in China [p=.59]; n=37 in Vietnam [p=.34]).

CONCLUSIONS: Baseline levels of HIV knowledge and positive attitudes toward the project were generally higher in Vietnam than in China but showed improvement in both countries. Continued community education is necessary, particularly to overcome persistent misinformation about HIV transmission routes and related stigmatization and to dispel the persistent misunderstanding that the intervention will lead to increased drug use. In particular, the countervailing evidence from the project should be disseminated on an ongoing basis.

Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, HIV, HIV Seropositivity, Harm Reduction, Substance Abuse, Intravenous, HIV Infections, HIV-1, HIV Seroprevalence, Syringes, Substance-Related Disorders, Attitude, China, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Data Collection, Cross-Sectional Studies, Vietnam, Case-Control Studies

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TuOrC1113