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. 2023 Oct 26;18(10):e0290661.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0290661. eCollection 2023.

Population-level prevalence of detectable HIV viremia in people who inject drugs (PWID) in Ukraine: Implications for HIV treatment and case finding interventions

Yana Sazonova  1 , Roksolana Kulchynska  2 , Marianna Azarskova  2 , Mariia Liulchuk  3 , Tetiana Salyuk  4 , Ivan Doan  2 , Ezra Barzilay  2
Affiliations

Population-level prevalence of detectable HIV viremia in people who inject drugs (PWID) in Ukraine: Implications for HIV treatment and case finding interventions

Yana Sazonova et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Achievement of viral load suppression among people living with HIV is one of the most important goals for effective HIV epidemic response. In Ukraine, people who inject drugs (PWID) experience the largest HIV burden. At the same time, this group disproportionally missed out in HIV treatment services. We performed a secondary data analysis of the national-wide cross-sectional bio-behavioral surveillance survey among PWID to assess the population-level prevalence of detectable HIV viremia and identify key characteristics that explain the outcome. Overall, 11.4% of PWID or 52.6% of HIV-positive PWID had a viral load level that exceeded the 1,000 copies/mL threshold. In the group of HIV-positive PWID, the detectable viremia was attributed to younger age, monthly income greater than minimum wage, lower education level, and non-usage of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and opioid agonistic therapy. Compared with HIV-negative PWID, the HIV-positive group with detectable viremia was more likely to be female, represented the middle age group (35-49 years old), had low education and monthly income levels, used opioid drugs, practiced risky injection behavior, and had previous incarceration history. Implementing the HIV case identification and ART linkage interventions focused on the most vulnerable PWID sub-groups might help closing the gaps in ART service coverage and increasing the proportion of HIV-positive PWID with viral load suppression.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. HIV VL results in distribution by self-reported ART status, n* (%‡).
* Picture 1 does not include participants who received HIV-positive results but did not provide their ART status information during the interview or whose DBS samples were rejected by the laboratory for VL testing due to the samples’ quality issues (NA = 132). ‡ Percentages are presented as population estimates that were adjusted for the RDS study design.
Fig 2
Fig 2. City-level variations in PDV among all PWID, %.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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