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Stimulant Injectors in Ukraine: The Next Wave of the Epidemic?

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Abstract

This study was designed to assess differences in drug and sex-related risk behaviors between injectors of opiates only, opiate/sedative mix only and stimulants only. Participants were current out-of-treatment injection drug users (IDUs), unaware of their HIV status, recruited through street outreach in Kiev, Odessa and Makeevka/Donetsk, Ukraine. Overall, 22% tested positive for HIV, including 39% among opiate/sedative injectors, 19% among opiate injectors and 17% among stimulant injectors. Despite these differences, stimulant injectors were at higher risk than other IDUs in sharing a used needle/syringe, always injecting with others, injecting a drug solution drawn from a common container, having an IDU sex partner, not using condoms during vaginal or anal sex and on composite measures of injection and sex risks. After controlling for age differences, stimulant injectors remained at higher risk in their needle and sex risk behaviors. Without intervention, it is likely that HIV will increase among stimulant injectors.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the National Institute on Drug Abuse for sponsoring this research (DA017620). We would also like to acknowledge the dedicated NGO staff and Directors who participated in this project. These include Elena Teryayeva with Health of Nation in Makeevka/Donetsk, Olga Kostyuk with Faith, Hope and Love in Odessa and Oksana Lisovska with the Substance Abuse and AIDS Prevention Foundation in Kiev. Their commitment to preventing the further spread of HIV in their country is nothing less than heroic. We are also indebted to the drug users who agreed to participate and gave their time that allowed us to write this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO, USA

    Robert E. Booth, Wayne E. K. Lehman, Carol F. Kwiatkowski & John T. Brewster

  2. Psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Project Safe 1741 Vine St., Denver, CO, 80206-1119, USA

    Robert E. Booth

  3. Counterpart International, Denver, CO, USA

    Larisa Sinitsyna

  4. Ukrainian Institute on Public Health Policy, Denver, CO, USA

    Sergey Dvoryak

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  1. Robert E. Booth
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  2. Wayne E. K. Lehman
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Correspondence to Robert E. Booth.

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This work was carried out in the cities of Kiev, Odessa, and Makeevka/Donetsk, Ukraine and Denver, Colorado.

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Booth, R.E., Lehman, W.E.K., Kwiatkowski, C.F. et al. Stimulant Injectors in Ukraine: The Next Wave of the Epidemic?. AIDS Behav 12, 652–661 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-008-9359-3

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