Abstract
HIV remains a serious global health problem. In Benin, intravenous drug users (IDUs) are at higher risk for HIV infection and are one of the groups the National AIDS Control Council (CNLS) has focused on in its strategic planning. The present study was conducted to estimate the rate of HIV prevalence among IDUs in Benin and identify potential risk factors. To this end, the 2013 and 2015 directives issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) regarding Second generation surveillance were followed. In total, 386 IDUs participated in the study from all departments of Benin, 3.1% of them were women. The average age of participants was 35 (±10.7). The median length of time that participants had been using drugs was 10 years (range: 0 - 45) and cocaine was the most frequently consumed substance (56.0%). During their last injection, 90.9% of respondents used sterile injecting equipment. The HIV prevalence rate among IDUs was 4.7% (95% CI: 2.63% - 7.11%), compared to 1.2% within the general population. The results of this study highlight the need to implement continual HIV surveillance systems and develop prevention tools that specifically address the needs of IDUs.
Highlights
The slogan of United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to get to zero new infections, zero AIDS-related deaths and zero discrimination in a world where HIV-infected people live long and healthy [1]
The number of participants in Atacora/Donga was considerably lower than expected because many of the individuals who were approached during recruitment only used drugs orally
Out of the 386 intravenous drug users (IDUs) who agreed to participate in the study, 381 (98.7%) agreed to undergo a screening for HIV
Summary
The slogan of UNAIDS to get to zero new infections, zero AIDS-related deaths and zero discrimination in a world where HIV-infected people live long and healthy [1]. To achieve this goal by 2020, UNAIDS has developed an acceleration approach to achieve a set of time-bound targets. Targets include: 90% of all people living with HIV know their HIV status, 90% of people who know their HIV status have access to treatment, and 90% of people on treatment have a suppressed viral load They include reducing new HIV infections by 75% and achieving zero discrimination [1,2,3]. Speeding up the AIDS response in low- and middle-income countries could prevent 28 million new HIV infections and 21 million AIDS-related deaths between 2015 and 2030, saving US $ 24 billion annually in additional treatment costs for HIV [1, 6]
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