Condom use among people who inject drugs
Export Indicator
Progress in preventing sexual transmission of HIV among people who inject drugs
Safer injecting and sexual practices among people who inject drugs are essential, even in countries in which other modes of HIV transmission predominate, because the risk of HIV transmission from contaminated injecting equipment is extremely high, and people who inject drugs can spread HIV (such as through sexual transmission) to the wider population.
Note: countries with generalized epidemics may also have a concentrated subepidemic among people who inject drugs. If so, calculating and reporting on this indicator for this population would be valuable.
Number of people who inject drugs who reported using a condom the last time they had sex
Number of people who inject drugs who report having injected drugs and having had sexual intercourse in the past month
Numerator/denominator
Biobehavioural surveillance surveys or other special surveys (e.g. BBS-Lite)
People who inject drugs are asked the following sequence of questions:
- Have you injected drugs at any time in the past month?
- If yes, have you had sexual intercourse in the past month?
If they answer yes to both 1 and 2:
- Did you use a condom when you last had sexual intercourse?
Whenever possible, data for people who inject drugs should be collected with civil society organizations that have worked closely with this population in the field.
Access to survey respondents and the data collected from them must remain confidential and secure.
Every two years
- Gender (female, male and transgender)
- Age (<25 and 25+ years)
If there are subnational data available, please provide the disaggregation by administrative area, city, or site in the space provided. Submit the digital version of any available survey reports using the upload tool.
Surveying people who inject drugs can be challenging. Consequently, the data obtained may not be based on a representative national sample of the people who inject drugs being surveyed. If there are concerns that the data are not based on a representative sample, the interpretation of the survey data should reflect these concerns. If there are different sources of data, the best available estimate should be used. The report submitted with this indicator should include information on the sample size, the quality and reliability of the data and any related issues.
The extent of HIV transmission associated with injecting drug use within a country depends on four factors: (1) the size, stage and pattern of dissemination of the national AIDS epidemic; (2) the extent of injecting drug use; (3) the degree to which people who inject drugs use contaminated injecting equipment; and (4) the patterns of sexual mixing and condom use among people who inject drugs and between people who inject drugs and the wider population. This indicator provides information on the fourth factor. To maximize the utility of these data, it is recommended that the same sample used for calculating this indicator be used for the calculating the other indicators related to these populations.
BBS-Lite is less technically demanding and may be undertaken with fewer resources than larger-scale, more comprehensive bio-behavioural surveys. It can also be repeated more frequently and yield results more rapidly. The results supplement data from other sources. The BBS-lite involves non-probability sampling methods, and therefore in many cases the results are most useful for understanding the local situation for programming purposes.