Risk behaviours among injecting drug users (IDUs) in Manipur: findings from Polling Booth Survey

Background:
In 2008, the HIV prevalence among IDUs in Manipur was 28.65% as per National HIV Sentinel Surveillance data. Project ORCHID is a 10-year (2004-14) Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded project under the Avahan initiative that provides HIV prevention in seven districts of Manipur and Nagaland in Northeast India.
Methodology:
The objective of the survey was to evaluate risk behaviours among the IDU communities served by Project ORCHID in Manipur.
The samples are calculated on the basis of active registered KP till the month of September 2011 at 15% margin of error (for 95% CI) and 1.5% design effect. The sites for conducting PBS are randomly selected using random table in excel sheet.
Results:
In Manipur, 81.8% IDU had injected in the previous week. The mean injecting frequency among them was 13 per IDU per person. The percentage of injecting episodes using new needle and syringe 71.5.
Only about 45% reported always using condom with non-regular partner in previous month. This put them in double risk of transmission of HIV i.e., from injecting as well as unsafe sex.
Conclusion:
Higher rates of risky injecting and sexual behaviour were found in Manipur among IDUs, which together with the much higher HIV prevalence of 28.65% underlines the need for continued behaviour change communication.