HIV Continuum of Care Among People Who Inject Drugs in Iran: A Cross-sectional Study.
Nima GhalekhaniAli MirzazadehFatemeh TavakoliGhazal MousavianMehrdad KhezriOmid ZamaniSoheil MehmandoostAli Akbar HaghdoostHamid SharifiPublished in: The Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care : JANAC (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.
Keyphrases
- antiretroviral therapy
- hiv infected
- hiv positive
- human immunodeficiency virus
- healthcare
- hiv testing
- hiv aids
- palliative care
- men who have sex with men
- hepatitis c virus
- quality improvement
- mental health
- pain management
- south africa
- affordable care act
- public health
- physical activity
- electronic health record
- big data
- primary care
- health insurance
- chronic pain