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HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing among Injection Drug Users in South China: A Study of a Non-Government Organization Based Program

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Abstract

HIV voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) programs are usually delivered by government health agencies in China. This study examined the feasibility of using a Chinese non-government organization (NGO) to deliver a VCT program to injection drug users (IDUs) in a southern Chinese city. The process data indicated the program successfully recruited and served 226 male and female IDUs in 4 months. The HIV prevalence rate of the study population was 57.5% by rapid HIV testing with a secondary rapid test to confirm. Quantitative and qualitative evaluations indicated that the VCT program was implemented appropriately and participants’ HIV knowledge and safe drug and sex practices were significantly improved after participation in the VCT program. This study demonstrates the feasibility of a Chinese NGO to provide VCT for IDUs and documents the processes and outcomes of the program. There remains a great need to find additional sources to provide VCT and other HIV prevention services to IDUs and other high-risk populations in China. Chinese NGOs have the potential to fill this need.

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Notes

  1. The current HIV/AIDS Surveillance System in China consists of case reports; behavioral surveillance; special epidemiological surveys; and sentinel surveillance on STI clinic attendees, sex workers, drug users, long distance truck drivers, pregnant women, and men having sex with men. The results of VCT from various cities could increase the case reports.

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Acknowledgments

The authors greatly appreciate the Health Services Foundation of the University of Alabama at Birmingham for providing a grant (#223 085) to support this research. The authors are very grateful for the support provided by Guangxi Department of Health and Guangxi Center for Disease Prevention and Control. The authors would also like to acknowledge the comments of the two anonymous reviewers, whose suggestions strengthened the paper considerably.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Behavior, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 227 Ryals Public Health Building, Birmingham, AL, 35294-0022, USA

    Huey T. Chen & Thomas N. Creger

  2. Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Center of Disease Prevention and Control, Guangxi, China

    Shaoling Liang, Siven Wang & Baiqing Dong

  3. Women’s Federation, Guangxi, China

    Quilan Liao

  4. Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, USA

    Joseph E. Schumacher

  5. Department of Pediatrics and Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, USA

    Craig M. Wilson

  6. Institute for Global Health and Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA

    Sten H. Vermund

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  1. Huey T. Chen
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  2. Shaoling Liang
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  3. Quilan Liao
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  4. Siven Wang
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  5. Joseph E. Schumacher
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  6. Thomas N. Creger
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  7. Craig M. Wilson
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  8. Baiqing Dong
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  9. Sten H. Vermund
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Correspondence to Huey T. Chen.

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Chen, H.T., Liang, S., Liao, Q. et al. HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing among Injection Drug Users in South China: A Study of a Non-Government Organization Based Program. AIDS Behav 11, 778–788 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-007-9215-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-007-9215-x

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