HIV and Drug Use in Georgian Women

Eastern Europe is an emerging epicenter of injection drug use and Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection, among women. Within Eastern Europe, the Republic of Georgia is one of the last countries where an Human Immunodeficiency Virus epidemic can still be averted. This proposal responds to RFA-DA-10-008 International Research Collaborations on Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome and Drug Use by building on the successful collaboration among United States and Eastern European investigators from the Republic of Georgia and Russia. Recent data from Georgia's neighbor, Russia, reported 59% of Injection Drug Using women Human Immunodeficiency Virus seropositive; this is a threat that looms over Georgia. Understanding the risk factors that operate in Russia that drive this epidemic may help forestall such a catastrophe in Georgia. As such, this proposal directly responds to the Eastern European Region question of "How can drug abuse treatment interventions be integrated with established Human Immunodeficiency Virus prevention approaches to optimize their combined effectiveness?" Injection drug using Georgian women show prevalence rates of 2% for Human Immunodeficiency Virus and 25% for hepatitis C. The low prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus in Georgian women provides an important window of opportunity to intervene and avoid the possibility of a Human Immunodeficiency Virus epidemic. In Georgia, women's expected subordination to men makes women vulnerable to Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Hepatitis C infection. The public health impact of the proposed project is far-reaching. Taken to scale, our Georgian reinforcement-based treatment model holds the promise not only to lessen the possibility of a Human Immunodeficiency Virus epidemic and slow the increase in the Hepatitis C transmission rate in Georgia, but also to strongly influence the development of women-focused drug abuse intervention models for treatment tailoring and dissemination in other nations.

Inclusion criteria

• Conversant in Georgian
• Able to provide informed consent
• Age 18 years or older
• Has ever injected illicit drugs
• Sexually active at least once in the past 30 days.

Exclusion criteria

• Male
• Younger than 18 years
• Not sexually active at least once in past 30 days
• Not able to provide informed consent