Open AccessCommunity Mobilization to Reduce Drug Use, Quang Ninh, Vietnam
Author(s) -
Hien Tran Nguyen,
Anh Viet Tran,
Nguyen Binh Nguyen,
Son Nguyen,
Diep Bich Vu,
Nhu Nguyen,
Ronald Brookmeyer,
Roger Detels
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2014.302101
Subject(s) - intervention (counseling) , incidence (geometry) , medicine , condom , casual , demography , environmental health , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , family medicine , nursing , political science , sociology , physics , syphilis , law , optics
Objectives. We implemented an intervention to reduce drug use in an urban commune in northern Vietnam. Methods. We encouraged the intervention commune to accept responsibility for developing their own intervention strategies based on a community mobilization model used in southern, rural China. We selected a comparison commune, which had demographic characteristics and a drug history similar to the intervention commune. The 2-year incidence of new drug users was estimated retrospectively in the intervention and comparison communes between baseline (2003) and follow-up (2009). Results. Increased incidence of new (noninjecting) drug users between 2003 and 2009 in the intervention commune was lower than that in the comparison commune, and these participants expressed more positive attitudes toward local authority and people with drug use and HIV/AIDS. Increased condom use during last intercourse with female sex workers and with female casual partners was observed in the intervention commune. HIV prevalence and positive opioid tests decreased more in the intervention commune. Conclusions. Our results suggested that the community mobilization had a positive influence in the intervention commune.