%0 Journal Article
%T Size estimation of injecting drug users (IDU) using multiplier method in five Districts of India
%A Gajendra Medhi
%A Jagadish Mahanta
%A Brogen S Akoijam
%A Rajatashuvra Adhikary
%J Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1747-597x-7-9
%X Injecting drug use is a global public health problem that contributes significantly to the transmission of bloodborne viral pathogens, including HIV and is responsible for an increasing proportion of new HIV infections [1-4]. Approximately 10% of the HIV/AIDS cases worldwide are attributed to injecting drug use (IDU) [4]. In India, injecting drug abuse is an important driving force of HIV epidemic in its northeastern states bordering Myanmar. Manipur is the most affected state by the injecting drug abuse-related HIV epidemic and has the highest HIV prevalence in India [5]. According to the latest HIV sentinel surveillance report, the prevalence of HIV among IDUs in the state is about 18% [6,7]. Reliable estimation of the size of IDU population is essential for policy advocacy, allocating resources for prevention interventions, treatment and care, estimations and projection of numbers of persons infected with HIV, and monitoring and evaluation of interventions [8].However, despite its critical importance, reliable size estimates of drug injecting population have received little attention in this region. Societal stigma and hostility associated with illegal drug use in the region often force the IDUs to hide their identity as a drug user [7,9]. The hidden nature of IDUs makes it nearly impossible to estimate population size using direct counting methods such as census [8]. Therefore, it is necessary to resort to indirect techniques to arrive at estimates of size of such hidden populations at high risk for HIV. Various indirect methods for estimating population size of such hidden populations have been proposed [8,10-12]. Capture-recapture (CRC) methods are perhaps the most frequently used method of size estimation. But, CRC is harder to implement because of methodology involving matching of individuals. Further, the CRC methods also require various assumptions that limit its application in estimating population size. Multiplier is an alternative indirect approach that
%U http://www.substanceabusepolicy.com/content/7/1/9