Background:  India has an estimated 2.2 million people living with HIV and an estimated 1.1 million people who inject drugs. Young people are known to be the key drivers of the HIV epidemic, accounting for more than a third of new HIV infections globally. The study was designed to compare substance use and psychosocial risk behaviors, and HIV incidence among Injection drug use (IDU) or People Who Use Drugs (PWUD).

Method: This cross-sectional prospective study was conducted for one year in the Department of Microbiology, GMC Jammu, among willing, informed and reported HIV patients, of either gender, at least 18 years old. The Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS) method was used to recruit study participants, with a total of 94 seeds selected for the entire survey.

Results: Mean age of participants was 26.46 ± 5.73 years, with 84.04% residing in urban communities. 43.62% had attained only primary education. Incidence of HIV/AIDS was 74.46% among 15-34 years old. More than 90% of cases were aware of their HIV status. Out of the diagnosed cases of HIV, 47.87% were found to be of substance use. Methamphetamine (Yama or ice) was the most commonly used drug.

Conclusions: History of using injecting drugs was associated with higher likelihood of being diagnosed with HIV, possibly due to the risk of sharing contaminated needles. Stratification of risk based on socio-economic profiles and drug injection history can enhance programs to identify unidentified people living with HIV.

Keywords: Drug Abuse, HIV Risk, Adolescents, Children, Substance Use, Injection Drug Use (IDU), People Who Use Drugs (PWUD).

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Dr Suharshi Gupta                 

MD Micro-Biology, Department of Microbiology, Government Medical College Jamm, Jammu and Kashmir, India: 180001