Characteristics Among Injecting Drug User Accessing and not Accessing Needle and Syringe Program
Abstract: 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
Penulis: Najmah
Kode Jurnal: jpkesmasdd130604