An Overview of HIV Prevention Interventions for People Who Inject Drugs in Tanzania.

In the past decade, Tanzania has seen a rapid rise in the number of people who inject drugs (PWID), specifically heroin. While the overall HIV prevalence in Tanzania has declined recently to 5.6%, in 2009, the HIV prevalence among PWID remains alarmingly high at 35%.

An urgent need to scale-up injecting drug harm reduction services in Tanzania: prevalence of blood-borne viruses among drug users in Temeke District, Dar-es-Salaam, 2011.

Background: Injecting drug use (IDU) is a growing concern in Tanzania compounded by reports of high-risk injecting and sexual risk behaviours among people who inject drugs (PWID). These behaviours have implications for transmission of blood-borne viruses, including HIV and hepatitis C (HCV).

Methods: We recruited 267 PWID (87% male) from Temeke District, Dar-es-Salaam through snowball and targeted sampling.