AEGiS-14IAC: A qualitative study on HIV risk among injecting drug users in Vietnam: Reasons for sharing syringes and needles.

14th International AIDS Conference

Barcelona, Spain - July 7-12, 2002

A qualitative study on HIV risk among injecting drug users in Vietnam: Reasons for sharing syringes and needles.

Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no. WeOrE1361)

Dao Quang Vinh V
National AIDS Standing Bureau of Vietnam (NASB), Hanoi, Vietnam

BACKGROUND: Now Vietnam estimates 185,000 DUs and reports 50,000 HIV cases. 66% of the infected are IDUs. The HIV epidemic is associated with unsafe drug injection, which is highlighted by 50% to 90% IDUs sharing syringes/needles (SNs). Why do IDUs share SNs? No information is documented in the country. This study is to find reasons for sharing. The continuing epidemic among IDUs also highlights the importance of this study.

METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted from Aug-Oct 2001. Theoretical perspectives and conceptual approaches in medical anthropology direct the study while investigating and analyzing findings. Selected by the snowball method from injection settings including a busy shooting area 30 IDUs are interviewed in-depth with open-ended and unstructural questions, and 4 FGDs are conducted. The study also conducts participant observations inside the shooting area. The first two techniques are tape-recorded while detailed fieldnotes are taken soon after the observation. Verbatim transcription is made when quotes are needed, and data from careful notes of 34 cassette tapes are put into a data master sheet.

RESULTS: Data from the in-depth interviewees (IDIs): mean age 30.6, 16/30 live on the street, mean number of injection years 2.8 and mean number of daily injections 2.6. Data from the FGD participants: mean age 30.5, mean number of injection years 4.2. All currently inject heroin. Pooling and sharing of SNs are common: 9/30 IDIs share, 7/30 IDIs never share but give the drug leftover in their "being-used" SNs to their peers, 21/24 IDIs see their peers sharing in many places, especially in the shooting area. 3/30 IDIs do frontload unsafely.

CONCLUSIONS: There are five reasons for sharing SNs: there is a trust among some special partners; IDUs either don't have or lack of money at the moment they are truly craving of drugs; it is a drug use culture itself; there is a lack of SNs availability/accessibility; IDUs misunderstand and misperceive HIV risk.

Keywords: AEGIS, Substance Abuse, Intravenous, Needle Sharing, Needles, HIV Infections, Qualitative Research, Heroin, Social Problems, HIV Seropositivity, Substance-Related Disorders, Social Behavior, Interpersonal Relations, Vietnam

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