Suchergebnisse

<i>Aims:</i> To assess among injecting drug users (IDUs) in St. Petersburg, Russia, the urban environment, social norms and individual correlates of unsafe injecting. <i>Methods:</i> Between December 2004 and January 2007, 446 IDUs were interviewed in St. Petersburg, Russia. <i>Results:</i> Prevalence of HCV was 96% and HIV 44%. 17% reported receptive syringe sharing after an HIV-infected IDU, 49% distributive syringe sharing, 76% sharing cookers, 73% sharing filters and 71% syringe-mediated drug sharing when not all syringes were new. Urban environmental characteristics correlated with sharing cookers and syringe-mediated sharing, and social norms correlated with receptive and distributive syringe sharing and sharing cookers. Individual correlates included cleaning used syringes (all 5 dependent variables) and self-report of HIV infection (receptive and distributive syringe sharing). <i>Conclusion:</i> HIV status disclosure is an unreliable but frequently used HIV prevention method among IDUs in St. Petersburg, who reported alarmingly high levels of injecting equipment sharing. Voluntary counseling and testing should be widely available for this population. Ethnography is needed to assess the effectiveness of the syringe cleaning process. Prevention interventions need to be ongoing among IDUs in St. Petersburg, and should incorporate urban environmental factors and social norms, which may involve peer education and social network interventions.

The purpose of this descriptive study was to compare young Russian NEP attenders (N = 209) and nonattenders (N = 207) on a multitude of dependent variables related to drug and sexual knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Questionnaire data found NEP attenders were more likely to be female, inject more frequently, use heroin heavily, be in long-term relationships, use clean needles, have more unprotected vaginal sex acts, and have drug-using friends with positive safer sex attitudes. Comparisons were also made between male and female NEP attenders, male NEP attenders and nonattenders, female NEP attenders and nonattenders, and male and female NEP nonattenders. Significant differences between those subgroups were found. A logistic regression was run to determine which variables served to predict NEP attendance. Four variables accounted for 17% of the variance and predicted NEP attendance in two thirds of the cases: safer sex attitudes of drug-using friends, heroin use, using new needles to inject, and relationship status.