HIV prevalence and factors associated with HIV infection among male injection drug users under 30: a cross-sectional study in Long An, Vietnam

Thirty clusters were selected from 29 hotspot communes in Long An province by probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling method. The snowball technique was used for enrolling participants in each cluster. The cross-sectional association of factors obtained during direct structured interviews to 248 male IDUs aged 14 to 29 years old and with their HIV test results were examined.The HIV prevalence among the studied IDUs was 32%. Age range of 18–20 years old, low educational level, sharing injection equipment or injection drug use in the other cities were independently associated with HIV serostatus in the multivariate analysis. Sexual behaviors did not differ between HIV-positive and -negative IDUs. Among HIV seropositive IDUs who had sexual contact with primary (n = 37), casual (n = 6), and commercial (n = 15) partners, only 5.4% (n = 2), 33.3% (n = 2), and 46.7% (n = 7), respectively, responded that they had used condoms every time.About one-third of young IDUs aged less than 30 identified in the hotspot communes in Long An, Vietnam was found to be infected with HIV, and socio-demographic and injection-related factors might account for the infection risk. Prevailing risky sexual behavior of this extremely marginalized population highlights the need to reduce their high transmission risks as a public health priority.The HIV Sentinel Surveillance in Vietnam shows that HIV infection has reached epidemic proportions among injection drug users (IDUs) [1-3]. The observed higher risk of IDUs has been explained by the combination of different risk behaviors such as sharing of syringes and needles, no regular use of condoms, and contact with different sexual partners [4]. Actually, IDUs in general are known to be sexually active [5], and male IDUs who had sexual contacts with female sex workers (FSWs) reportedly have a higher HIV infection risk than IDUs who do not [6,7]. Because the sheer scale of problems involving IDUs and IDU-related HIV infection is far greater in