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Knowledge and perception of risk for HIV and condom use among male injecting drug users in Cebu City, Philippines
Author(s) -
AMADORANOLASCO FISCALINA,
ALBURO RENE E.,
AGUILAR ELMIRA JUDY T.,
TREVATHAN WENDA R.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
drug and alcohol review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.018
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1465-3362
pISSN - 0959-5236
DOI - 10.1080/09595230220139037
Subject(s) - condom , medicine , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , intervention (counseling) , population , needle sharing , environmental health , demography , transmission (telecommunications) , risk perception , developing country , family medicine , perception , psychology , psychiatry , economic growth , sociology , syphilis , neuroscience , economics , electrical engineering , engineering
Injecting drug users (IDU) represent a small fraction of the HIV and AIDS cases in the Philippines. To determine if these people are engaging in behaviors that put them at risk for HIV, interviews were conducted with 360 male IDUs in Cebu City, Philippines, from 1997 to 1999, as part of a national surveillance system. The interviews assessed knowledge about HIV transmission, sources of information about HIV/AIDS, perceived risks of contracting HIV, needle‐sharing practices, condom use, self‐reported signs and symptoms of STDs and number of sex partners. Although most of the men were able to recognize behaviors accurately that put them at risk for HIV, more than two‐thirds claimed that they shared needles and almost two‐thirds of those who were sexually active claimed that they never used condoms. Intervention strategies must be developed for this population if the nation is to avoid the dramatic increase in HIV infection among IDUs that has been witnessed in neighboring Southeast Asian nations such as Malaysia and Vietnam.