Drug Injection and HIV/AIDS in Asia
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MAP Report 2005 Drug Injection and HIV/AIDS in Asia Drug injection is a strong driver of HIV The purpose of this booklet is twofold: also describes how those points should infection in Asia, notably parts of 1. to summarize what researchers have inform HIV prevention strategies. China, Indonesia and Vietnam, where learned about the epidemiology of the steepest recent rises in HIV infec- HIV/AIDS within Asian IDU networks; This is one of a series of three tions are seen among injecting drug and, programming-themed booklets based users (IDUs). HIV prevalence rates in 2. to discuss the programmatic impli- on AIDS in Asia: Face the Facts. The some IDU populations are extremely cations of those findings. other two are MAP Report 2005: Male- high, and the sexual behaviour of IDUs Male Sex and HIV/AIDS in Asia and MAP can provide a gateway for HIV to The central epidemiological issues Report 2005: Sex Work and HIV/AIDS in spread among non-injectors. were presented in detail in AIDS in Asia: Asia. Taken together, they provide Face the Facts, a report issued by the insight into how to respond to the It is essential for HIV prevention inter- Monitoring the AIDS Pandemic (MAP) behaviours driving the spread of HIV in ventions to take into account the Network in 2004. This publication Asia’s most at-risk populations. complexity of the relationship between follows up by highlighting points that drug injection and HIV transmission. relate specifically to drug injection. It Acknowledgments he members of the Monitoring the AIDS Pandemic Network (The TMAP Network), the grouping responsible for this report, are listed in Appendix 1. The MAP Network would like to thank several people who are not currently network members but who have contributed actively to this report. These people include: Jeanine Bardon, Myat Htoo Razak, Parvez Sazzad Mallick, Elizabeth Pisani, Kelly Safreed Harmon, Ganrawi Winitdhama, and Nigoon Jitthai. The MAP Network would also like to thank the govern- ments of Asia and their development partners for generously sharing national HIV and behavioural surveillance data for this report. A number of institutions support the MAP Network financially, including contributors to the preparation and printing of this report. They include: UNAIDS; WHO; and the Japanese Foundation for AIDS Prevention and, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Japan. Their support does not imply that they endorse the contents of this report. The text and graphics of the report are based on AIDS in Asia: Face the Facts, a report issued by the Monitoring the AIDS Pandemic (MAP) Network in 2004, prepared by Elizabeth Pisani and Tim Brown. Drug Injection and HIV/AIDS in Asia The Map Reports 2005 Drug Injection and HIV/AIDS in Asia 1 Contents Drug injection and AIDS in Asia: a summary 3 1. Introduction 4 2. How injecting drug use fuels Asian AIDS epidemics 6 A. Sharing of injecting equipment 6 Why high viraemia equals high risk of HIV infection 6 The knowledge-behavior disconnect 7 B. The sexual behaviour of injecting drug users 8 Selling sex to buy drugs: a lethal combination 8 The other side of the coin: drug injectors buying sex 9 C. Confinement and incarceration 10 D. The relationship between HIV and other problems facing IDUs 10 3. From research to practice: translating the evidence into strategies for reducing HIV transmission in IDU networks 11 A. Changing behaviour around the sharing of injecting equipment 11 B. Preventing sexual transmission of HIV in IDU networks 12 C. Meeting the needs of IDUs in jails, prisons and other confined settings 12 D. HIV prevention in the context of other problems facing IDUs 13 4. Protecting IDUs and other community members from HIV/AIDS by engaging them in prevention and care efforts 15 Appendix 1: Members of the Monitoring the AIDS Pandemic Network 16 Appendix 2: Sources used in this report 17 Notes about sources Because this document refers to data with great frequency, the sourcing of each individual data point cited would be impractical. The sources for surveillance data are consolidated in a list in Appendix 2. Any data point that is not individually sourced, or that is sourced to “national surveillance records” or “behavioural surveillance,” comes from the sources on that list. Data from stand-alone studies rather than from repeated surveillance efforts are individually referenced in endnotes that appear in Appendix 2. Sources for all figures are provided in Appendix 2. 2 Drug Injection and HIV/AIDS in Asia The Map Reports 2005 Drug injection and HIV/AIDS in Asia: a summary Sharing injecting equipment is a very efficient way immediately obvious risks posed by HIV may of passing on HIV. Because of this, HIV prevalence seem less significant to them. Ensuring can rise rapidly among IDUs who share needles adequately scaled programmes to help drug users and syringes. In many Asian settings, needle and get off of and stay off of drugs is an important syringe sharing are very common. This clearly HIV prevention and care strategy in Asia. contributes to the very high levels of HIV in some Treatment and detoxification programmes for IDU populations. Even where the numbers of IDUs could be expanded and better utilized people injecting drugs are relatively small, their as settings for providing HIV prevention contribution to the overall HIV epidemic in a interventions, as well as medical care and country can be considerable. This is because IDUs treatment. Prisons are also settings where more may also pass on HIV infection sexually, creating a could be done regarding HIV prevention and “critical mass” of infections within sexual networks. care for IDUs. In a number of Asian countries, HIV From there, HIV can spread out more widely. prevalence among IDUs is already high. Hence, the provision of HIV treatment and prevention Major areas of concern that should guide HIV services to HIV-positive drug users is essential for prevention strategies targeting IDU networks effective national responses. include: (1) the sharing of injecting equipment; (2) the sexual behaviour of IDUs; (3) the confinement The major risk behaviours for HIV in Asia, injecting and incarceration of IDUs; and, (4) the relationship drug use, the buying and selling of sex and male- between HIV and other issues facing IDUs. male sex, are by no means mutually exclusive. In every Asian country where data are collected, drug All the scientific evidence suggests that large- injectors report more sexual activity, including scale programmes providing substitutes for sex between men, than other population groups, injected drugs and increasing access to clean and much of that sex is commercial, both bought needles and syringes will reduce new HIV infections and sold. Reducing risky sex among drug users among injectors. While these programmes often is a critical component of effective national HIV remain controversial politically, there are now programmes. good examples to suggest that they can be effective in Asian settings. For example, there was Modelling shows that in situations where HIV has a dramatic decrease in needle-sharing among remained low for years despite low condom use, IDUs when a needle and syringe exchange a sharp rise in HIV infection among drug injectors programme was started in Bangladesh. However, could “kick-start” an HIV epidemic that may in the vast majority of settings, programmes are otherwise have taken many decades to develop. not at a large enough scale to slow the spread of This is why it is essential to provide prevention the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Furthermore, access to services to IDUs before drug use-related HIV clean needles and syringes is often not enough, transmission begins to increase. for example, in several countries, injectors say Reducing HIV transmission in IDU networks that the real problem is being subjected to fines, will require stronger collaborations among arrest and imprisonment. If a country is serious communities, health workers, law enforcement about tackling HIV among IDUs, it must ensure workers, decision makers and drug users. All that drug users can safely access and utilize HIV stakeholders should be encouraged to recognize risk reduction services. that drug use-related HIV/AIDS is a global Another formidable obstacle to reducing HIV challenge requiring everyone to work together on transmission among IDUs is the presence of the same goal—reducing the impact of the HIV/ competing risks in their lives. Many drug injectors AIDS epidemic worldwide. report episodes of drug overdose and suicide attempts, and they also may be targeted for physical violence and at risk for various health problems. Compared to all of this, the less The Map Reports 2005 Drug Injection and HIV/AIDS in Asia 3 1.Introduction Is HIV a Bigger Problem in the Sex Industry or in Drug-Using Populations? A needle that contains HIV-infected blood The groups with the highest HIV infection rates can introduce the virus directly into the in Asia are injecting drug users (IDUs). So why do bloodstream. Consequently, needle-sharing experts emphasize the role of commercial sex between infected and uninfected people is as one of the major drivers of HIV epidemics in one of the most efficient ways of spreading HIV. Asia? Because of the significance of the absolute Drug injection is emerging as the strongest numbers of people engaging in both types of initial driver of HIV infection in many parts of behaviours. In general, IDUs are more likely to be Asia, and the steepest recent rises in numbers infected with HIV than sex workers or their clients. of HIV infections are seen among IDUs. Parts of But because the overall numbers of people buying China, Indonesia and Vietnam have seen HIV and selling sex are much larger than the numbers infection rates take off among drug injectors in of people injecting drugs in most settings, more recent years.