Characteristics Among Injecting Drug User Accessing and not Accessing Needle and Syringe Program

Abstract

Background : HIV/AIDS has become one of international public health problem. One effective method to spread HIV/AIDS is through shared needle and syiringe among Injecting Drug Users (IDUs). Needle and Syringe Program has been run in Palembang since 2009. Previos research was limitted towards description of IDUs in Palembang city without differentiating both IDUs accessing and not accessing Needle and Syringe Program (NSP). Objectives to identify the differences characteristcis  between characteristics of IDUs accessing and not accessing  NSP

Methods : This was a case control study with respondents recruited using snowball technique. Simple and multiple logistic regression tests were performed using statistics program (Stata version 10) to identify association between NSP access status and characterisctics of IDUs. Odds ratio, 95 % Confidence interval and P value were reported.

Results : Fourty six IDUs from NSPS group and 75 IDUs from non-NSPS group were recruited. Mostly, respondents were male with senior high school education level and single status. There is difference of attitude and length of use of Drugs among IDUs accessing and not accessing NSP. The bivariate analysis indicates that IDUs who have positive attitude towards Harm reduction and needle and syringe program tend to 2.76 times to access NSP compared to those who have negative attitute (OR 2.76(1,30-5.89), p.0.008). Then, IDUs who inject drugs tend to access 1.09 times for each increase of year using drugs with moderate significancy to reject the null hypothesis (OR 1.09(95 % CI 1.003-1.19), p. 0.04).  however, variables of education, age, income and knowledge about HIV/AIDS and Harm reduction do not differ between IDUs accessing and not accessing Needle and Syringe Programs. After possible confounders adjustment,  association between length of use injected drugs and IDU’s attitude towards harm reduction and NSP are still found.

Conclusion : IDUs who have positive attitude  towards harm reduction concept on NSP and longer use of injected drugs will more likely access NSPs.  Enhancement peer educators from ex-IDUs is important to increase  positive attitude towards harm reduction among IDUs. Moreover, further research with big sample size and qualitative approach are urgently needed.

Keywords : Injecting drug users, characteristics, needle and syringe program