NCJ Number
180778
Date Published
1998
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Data from the first 339 women recruited for an HIV/AIDS prevention effort for indigent women in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, starting in mid-1994, formed the basis of an analysis of the drug-using and HIV risk behaviors in these women.
Abstract
The PROVIVA project (Projeto Venha Informar-se sobre o Virus da AIDS) began in 1993 with funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and administration by the University of Miami School of Medicine. Target groups included cocaine-using women and men in the city's shantytowns and red-light districts. The women ranged in age from 18 to 62 years and had a median of 29 years. The majority were either black or multiracial. Almost all were of low socioeconomic status. The HIV risk behaviors of these women in the 30-day period prior to the interview included sex with multiple partners (17 percent), sex with an injection drug user (3.8 percent), injection drug use (4.1 percent), and anal sex (12.7 percent). In addition, 70.8 percent had used cocaine either daily or several times a week during the past 30 days; 81 percent reported no use of condoms. Finally, 95.6 percent of the women had never been in drug treatment, 28.9 percent reported exchanging sex for money, 10.3 percent reported exchanging sex for drugs, and 15.5 percent reported histories of one or more sexually transmitted diseases. A total of 8.5 percent of the women tested HIV positive. Findings suggested that cocaine-using women in the shantytowns and red-light districts need concentrated prevention and intervention services related to HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, drug treatment, and other risk-reduction initiatives. Tables, footnote, and 23 references (Author abstract modified)