The HIV/AIDS epidemic and changes in injecting drug use in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Abstract

This article discusses the changes in injecting drug use from 1998 to 2003 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Rapid Situation Assessment and Response methodology was used to obtain the information. Quantitative and qualitative techniques were triangulated: 140 current IDUs and 35 sex partners of injection drug users (IDUs) were surveyed; 17 in-depth interviews with the surveyed IDUs and 2 focus groups were held, as well as ethnographic observations. The way in which risk and care practices among injecting drug users changed and the influence of the HIV/ AIDS epidemic on this process are described. In recent years, the frequency of injection practices and sharing of injecting equipment has decreased, while injecting drug use is a more hidden practice in a context of increasing impact of the disease in the injecting drug use social networks and changes in the price and quality of drugs. Knowledge about these changes helps build harm reduction activities oriented to IDUs in their particular social context.

Determinants of Treatment Access in a Population‐based Cohort of HIV‐positive Men and Women Living in Argentina

“…A high risk for HIV infection has previously been observed in this group of individuals. [8,[13][14][15][16] In Buenos Aires, a previous study demonstrated that the prevalence of HIV among IDU was 44.3% in 2001. [8] As IDU was formerly the most common mode of transmission in Argentina, it is expected that individuals belonging to this group would have been infected for a longer period of time compared with other more recently prevalent modes of transmission, such as heterosexual contact.…”

Grand challenges in chronic non-communicable diseases

“…In addition, while AIDS mortality rates overall started to decline in Argentina after 1996, the same trend has not been observed among injecting drug users, who have experienced large numbers of deaths in recent years. This suggests that injecting drug users have not benefited sufficiently from the country's antiretroviral treatment programme (Rossi et al, 2006 (National AIDS Programme Uruguay, 2006). Nevertheless, infection levels are high among certain groups in the capital, Montevideo, where the epidemic is concentrated: 22% among men who have sex with men (Montano et al, 2005), 19% among injecting drug users and 10% among non-injecting drug users (Vignoles et al, 2006).…”

Multiple infections and associated risk factors among non-injecting cocaine users in Argentina

“…Most studies on the prevalence of infections that are either bloodborne or sexually acquired among drug users in Argentina have been conducted among injecting drug users (IDU), over 95% of whom inject cocaine. Several studies have demonstrated a high seroprevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) 2,3,4,5 among the drug-injecting population. Cocaine, which was regarded several decades ago as a drug consumed exclusively by affluent people, has now extended into low-income sectors that were formerly far from its reach.…”