Prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection and Associated Factors among Injecting Drug Users of 18-25-year Age Group of Tripura: A Cross-sectional Study.

BACKGROUND

Injection drug use is a global issue with almost one-fifth of them being human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive.

OBJECTIVES

The present study is aimed at finding out the burden of HIV infection and associated factors among injecting drug users (IDUs) between 18 and 25 years of age of Tripura and to compare with the registered prevalence of infection among them.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 80 young IDUs in West and Dhalai district of Tripura. Respondent driven sampling was done identifying hotspots with the help of targeted intervention-NGOs, to interview the respondents.

RESULTS

Most of the respondents were male (92.5% and 85% respectively from West and Dhalai district) and between 22 and 23 years age. The self-reported seroprevalence of HIV among IDUs was 53.8% (in comparison to 38% among Tripura State AIDS Control Society (TSACS) registered seroprevalence) in West district and 57.9% (in comparison to 50.6%) in Dhalai district. Most of them (81% and 91%, respectively) are currently on antiretroviral therapy and socioeconomic status of IDUs from Dhalai district was found to be significant predictor of HIV infection among them.

CONCLUSION

Self-reported prevalence of HIV among IDUs in both the study districts was higher than TSACS reported HIV prevalence among IDUs in the same districts. Socioeconomic status was a significant predictor of HIV infection among the IDUs with scope for improvement among practice related to regular use of condoms during sexual intercourse.