HIV Continuum of Care Among People Who Inject Drugs in Iran: A Cross-sectional Study.

J Assoc Nurses AIDS Care

Nima Ghalekhani, PhD, is a Research vice chancellor of HIV/STI Surveillance Research Center, and WHO Collaborating Center for HIV Surveillance, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Ali Mirzazadeh, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute for Global Health Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA, and HIV/STI Surveillance Research Center, and WHO Collaborating Center for HIV Surveillance, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Fatemeh Tavakoli, MSc, is a PhD Candidate, who is a Research Assistant at HIV/STI Surveillance Research Center, and WHO Collaborating Center for HIV Surveillance, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Ghazal Mousavian MSc, is a PhD Candidate, who is a Research Assistant at HIV/STI Surveillance Research Center, and WHO Collaborating Center for HIV Surveillance, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Mehrdad Kherzi, MSc, is a PhD Candidate, who is a Research Assistant at HIV/STI Surveillance Research Center, and WHO Collaborating Center for HIV Surveillance, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Omid Zamani, MD, MPH, is a Research assistant at HIV/STI Surveillance Research Center, and WHO Collaborating Center for HIV Surveillance, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Soheil Mehmandoost, MSc, is a PhD Candidate, who is a Research Assistant at HIV/STI Surveillance Research Center, and WHO Collaborating Center for HIV Surveillance, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Ali Akbar Haghdoost, PhD, is a Professor of Epidemiology, Head of the Institute for Futures Studies in Health Kerman University of Medical Sciences, HIV/STI Surveillance Research Center, and WHO Collaborating Center for HIV Surveillance, Kerman, Iran. Hamid Sharifi, PhD, is a Professor of Epidemiology, Head of HIV/STI Surveillance Research Center, and WHO Collaborating Center for HIV Surveillance, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.

Published: February 2023

People living with HIV who inject drugs may have lower access to treatment services. We aimed to assess the HIV continuum of care among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Iran. Data were collected from 2,663 PWID who were recruited via respondent-driven sampling from 11 cities of Iran between June 2019 and March 2020. Participants who tested positive for HIV infection were asked questions to calculate the status of HIV cascade of care. Of 95 PWID living with HIV, 67% were aware of their HIV status, 57% were linked to care service and initiated ART, 49% retained on ART, and only 15% had viral load less than 1,000 copies/ml. About half of the PWID diagnosed with HIV ever started ART and less than one in six were virally suppressed. Strategies to improve linkage to ART programs and ART retention may improve HIV care outcomes among PWID in Iran.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/JNC.0000000000000391DOI Listing

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