%0 Journal Article
%T A participatory intervention to improve the mental health of widows of injecting drug users in north-east India as a strategy for HIV prevention
%A Alexandra Devine
%A Michelle Kermode
%A Prabha Chandra
%A Helen Herrman
%J BMC International Health and Human Rights
%D 2007
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1472-698x-7-3
%X We designed an intervention study to assess the feasibility and impact of a participatory action process to promote the mental health and well-being of widows of IDUs in Manipur and Nagaland, as a strategy for reducing the risk of engagement in HIV risk behaviours. This paper describes the background and rationale for the study, the intervention, and the study methods in detail.Pending analysis.This intervention study will make a significant contribution to the emerging evidence that supports associations between mental health and HIV. The concept of promoting mental health among women who are vulnerable to HIV infection or already infected as a strategy for HIV prevention in a development setting is breaking new ground.Two of the north-east states of India, Manipur and Nagaland, are classified as high prevalence states for HIV (HIV prevalence in antenatal women >1%) [1]. Intravenous drug use (IDU) in these states is an important route of HIV transmission [2]. A constellation of social factors including political instability, unemployment, and easy availability of heroin from across the Myanmar border and cheap narcotic-based pharmaceutical agents, all contribute to a high prevalence of injecting drug use in this part of the world, especially among young men [3,4]. Recent reports estimate that injecting drug users (IDUs) constitute 1.9¨C2.7% of the adult population [2]. In 2005, the HIV prevalence among IDUs in Manipur and Nagaland was estimated to be 24% and 5% respectively, representing an increase in both states from the previous year (NACO 2006). In a sample of IDUs in the north-east, 75% were found to be HIV positive [2].Most IDUs are men, an estimated 40% are married [5], and death rates have been high in the last five years; consequently the number of widows of IDUs has increased [4]. HIV transmission from IDUs to their sexual partners and wives has been documented [2,6]. Women in India are often socially and economically disadvantaged following the death of t
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-698X/7/3