Plüddemann Andreas, Parry Charles D H, Flisher Alan J, Jordaan Esmé
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Unit, Medical Research Council, Tygerberg, South Africa.
J Psychoactive Drugs. 2008 Sep;40(3):273-9. doi: 10.1080/02791072.2008.10400642.
UN reports point to a steady increase in heroin use in a number of African countries, including South Africa. South Africa also has one of the highest HIV infection prevalence rates in the world. Given the link between intravenous heroin use and HIV transmission, this study aimed to investigate HIV-related risk behaviors among heroin users in the city. A snowballing or chain referral sampling technique was used to find 239 heroin users in Cape Town who were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Overall, 24% of all the participants reported that they had injected heroin in the past 30 days and 89% of these had shared a needle at least once during that period. Condom use was irregular among the survey participants. Three percent stated that they were HIV positive. Heroin use has become a major concern in Cape Town and may still be increasing. While injecting use still appears to be fairly limited, this has the potential to change. Further debate is required regarding the introduction of harm reduction approaches that have been found to be effective elsewhere.
联合国的报告指出，包括南非在内的一些非洲国家海洛因使用量在稳步上升。南非也是世界上艾滋病毒感染率最高的国家之一。鉴于静脉注射海洛因与艾滋病毒传播之间的联系，本研究旨在调查该市海洛因使用者中与艾滋病毒相关的风险行为。采用滚雪球或链式转介抽样技术，在开普敦找到239名海洛因使用者，并用结构化问卷对他们进行了访谈。总体而言，所有参与者中有24%报告称在过去30天内注射过海洛因，其中89%在此期间至少共用过一次针头。调查参与者中避孕套使用不规律。3%的人表示他们是艾滋病毒阳性。海洛因使用已成为开普敦的一个主要问题，而且可能仍在增加。虽然注射使用似乎仍然相当有限，但这种情况有可能改变。对于引入在其他地方已被证明有效的减少伤害方法，需要进一步展开辩论。
