RUSSIA (2010): HIV PREVENTION STUDY OF INJECTING DRUG USERS (IDUS) IN ST. PETERSBURG, THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION. ROUND TWO.

The purpose of the 2010 survey among injecting drug users (IDUs) in St. Petersburg was to collect endline data on HIV-related practices, knowledge, and awareness on HIV risks, their HIV-risk and health-seeking behaviors, determinants of behavior and exposure to PSI activities. The results of this study are used to: 1. monitor changes in behavior, knowledge, attitudes and exposure to the intervention over time. Data from round 2 are compared to results from the round 1 survey for the HIV Prevention program purpose-level indicators (percentage of IDUs reporting sharing injecting equipment, levels of knowledge on HIV, testing for HIV and exposure to program activities.); 2. identify determinants of behavior of interest, namely, sharing injecting equipment and consistent condom use; 3. communicate the results and lessons learned to other stakeholders such as NGO partners; 4. evaluate the effectiveness of PreventAIDS program; 5. disseminate lessons learned among a wider audience including government and international agencies that fund the provision of services to members of this group. For both rounds, respondents were recruited through respondent-driven sampling (RDS) (see Annex 5, RDS Waves for endline study). It was recommended to select representatives of sub-groups of IDUs, i.e. males and females; employed and unemployed; clients and non-clients of HIV prevention projects. The length of experience with injecting drug use was also a criterion for an IDU to be selected as a seed for this study. In total, 350 ID Us, involved in injecting behavior during the past year were interviewed in 2010 (352 IDUs were interviewed during the round 1 survey). Respondents were recruited and interviewed with assistance from local NGOs. Interviewers from NGOs were supervised and the collected data cleaned and converted into electronic format by Mix Research, a professional survey agency. Data collection for round 1 took place between February and April 2009 and for round 2 between February and March 2010.