Importance: Women who use heroin in sub-Saharan Africa face elevated HIV risk linked to structural vulnerability including frequent incarceration. However, little is known about the association between incarceration and drug use and HIV outcomes among women who use heroin in Africa.
Objective: To estimate associations between incarceration and adverse HIV-related and drug use-related outcomes among women who used heroin.
Issues Ment Health Nurs
January 2025
The stigma surrounding drug use adversely affects the health and wellbeing of people who use drugs. With projected increases in drug use in Africa over the next decade, understanding public perceptions of drug use is critical. This study explores perceptions and attitudes toward illicit drug use from the viewpoint of the families of women who use drugs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Mobility is a key social determinant of health for female sex workers (FSWs). While extant research has focused on the adverse effects of mobility for FSWs, there are very few studies that have examined the multiple ways in which mobility may impact the lives of these mobile women from their perspective. This qualitative study aims to fill this gap by exploring how mobility impacts the lives, livelihoods, and HIV care and treatment from the perspectives of women living with HIV in two epidemic settings, the Dominican Republic and Tanzania.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: People who use drugs (PWUD) and people who use medication-assisted treatment (MAT) to treat opioid use disorder face severe stigma. Stigma may manifest in delayed health-seeking behaviors, which adversely affects health and increases disease risk. Few validated measures assess internalized drug use stigma or MAT disclosure concerns in sub-Saharan Africa.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFemale sex workers (FSW) are highly mobile, which may result in reduced access to and use of health services and increased risk for poor health outcomes, particularly for those living with HIV. Mobility includes spatial, temporal, and social elements that are not fully captured by quantitative measures. We conducted two rounds of in-depth interviews with FSW living with HIV in Iringa, Tanzania (n = 20), and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (n = 20), to describe mobility experiences and compare mobility narratives across settings.
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