Prevalence of HIV, risk behaviours and vulnerabilities of female sex partners of the HIV positive people who inject drugs (PWID) in Dhaka city, Bangladesh

Md Masud Reza; A K M Masud Rana; Mohammad Niaz Morshed Khan; Md Safiullah Sarker; Sujan Chowdhury; Md Ziya Uddin; Lima Rahman; Mohammad Ezazul Islam Chowdhury; Md Abu Taher; Sharful Islam Khan

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0286673

Prevalence of HIV, risk behaviours and vulnerabilities of female sex partners of the HIV positive people who inject drugs (PWID) in Dhaka city, Bangladesh

PLoS One. 2023 Jun 5;18(6):e0286673. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286673. eCollection 2023.

Affiliations

¹ Programme for HIV and AIDS, Infectious Disease Division, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Dhaka, Bangladesh.
² HIV/AIDS Specialist, UNICEF, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
³ Director, Health and Nutrition Sector, Save the Children in Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁴ Technical Advisor, HIV/AIDS Program, Save the Children in Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁵ National Programme Coordinator (Drugs and HIV/AIDS), UNODC, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Abstract

Background: The HIV epidemic in Bangladesh is largely being driven by people who inject drugs (PWID) and mainly concentrated in Dhaka city. Intregrated biological and behavioural survey (IBBS) data of 2016 showed that a considerable percentage of the HIV positive PWID had unsafe sex with their female sex partners. Prevalence of HIV, risk behaviorus and vulnerabilities among the female sex partners of the PWID still remain unexplored.

Methods: To measure HIV prevalence, risk behaviours (drugs/injection/sexual) and vulnerabilities (treatment of and knowledge of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/uptake of the routine HIV testing and HIV prevention services/physical and sexual violence), a quantitative survey was conducted among 227 female sex partners of the HIV positive PWID in Dhaka city in 2019 by adopting a take-all sampling technique.

Results: The median age of participants was 34.0 years. Prevalence of HIV was 16.7% (95% CI: 12.4-22.2). Only 6.8% to 18.7% of the participants used condoms consistently with different male sex partners; only 6.8%cto 18.7% during last year. Seventy five percent (95% CI: 69.2-80.8) had no knowledge on STI symptoms. Self-reported symptoms of STIs were reported by 26% (95% CI: 20.7-32.1) and half sought treatment during last year. Nineteen percent (95% CI: 14.7-25.1) had comprehensive knowledge of HIV. As part of the routine HIV prevention services by the PWID drop-in-centres (DICs), 42.7% (95% CI: 36.4-49.3) of the participants were tested for HIV and knew their result within the last year. One-third never received HIV prevention services. During the last one year preceding the survey, 46% (95% CI: 39.3-52.6) reported been beaten and 20.2% (95% CI: 15.3-26.1) been raped.

Conclusion: It is urgently necessary to consider the high-risk behaviours and vulnerabilities in designing or to strengthen targeted interventions for female sex partners of the HIV positive PWID in Dhaka city to ensure equality in accessing and utilization of services.

Copyright: © 2023 Masud Reza et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome*
Adult
Bangladesh / epidemiology
Drug Users*
Female
HIV Infections* / epidemiology
Humans
Male
Prevalence
Risk-Taking
Sexual Partners
Sexually Transmitted Diseases* / epidemiology
Substance Abuse, Intravenous* / complications
Substance Abuse, Intravenous* / epidemiology

Grants and funding

funded by The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), through the Grant ‘Expanding HIV/AIDS Prevention in Bangladesh’ under the terms of Grant Agreement NO. GR-01603 with icddr,b. icddr,b acknowledges with gratitude the commitment of the Global Fund to its research efforts. icddr,b is also thankful to the Governments of Bangladesh, Australia, Canada, Sweden and the UK for providing core/unrestricted support to icddr,b.