Methods :

An uncontrolled longitudinal study of 400 drug users who will receive a staged set of interventions mentioned as below:: (1) immediately reduce health risks, and educate the client to HIV risks, (2) one month later provide access to voluntary HIV and STD counseling and testing, with treatment for prevalent STD, (3) 5-months later provide access to an oral buprenorphine substitution program, and (4) track clients availing available detoxification and rehabilitation services. There will be baseline, 1-, 6-, 9- and 12-month questionnaire and physical assessments of participants. Comparisons in study outcomes will be made over time. Additional interviews will be conducted at entry and exit for clients who avail to detoxification and rehabilitation programs.

The population for the study is 400 injecting drug users from the New Delhi, India area who are seeking services for drug addiction from SHARAN’s drop-in center.Participants will first be given ongoing HIV and drug use health education, access to a needle exchange program (NEP), be provided condoms, have wounds and abscesses medically treated, and be provided nutritional support. The second component of the intervention is HIV-1 voluntary counseling and testing (VCT), and STI diagnosis and treatment, provided 1-month later in order to give participants time to better understand what HIV and AIDS is, to have other critical health problems (abscesses and malnutrition) resolved, and adjust to reduced risk behaviors. In the third component participants will be provided oral buprenophine substitution (OBS) to treat their drug addiction.

Design of the study :