{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,11]],"date-time":"2026-03-11T01:01:39Z","timestamp":1773190899867,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":16,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,14]],"date-time":"2025-03-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1741910400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,14]],"date-time":"2025-03-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1741910400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000025","name":"National Institute of Mental Health","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["R25MH064712"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R25MH064712"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000025","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000025","name":"National Institute of Mental Health","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["5R25MH129290-02"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["5R25MH129290-02"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000025","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100016195","name":"United Nations Development Programme","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["AFG\/GS\/2018\/084"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["AFG\/GS\/2018\/084"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100016195","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Harm Reduct J"],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>People who inject drugs (PWID) remain at high risk for HIV in many countries, including Afghanistan. Previous reports on HIV testing and prevalence in Afghanistan were published in 2012. This study assessed recent HIV testing and self-reported HIV prevalence among male PWID in Afghanistan from 2019 to 2020.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Method<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>We visited 374 public venues and hotpots where PWID used to gather and meet their peers across 8 cities in Afghanistan to enroll eligible participants in our study. Using interviews and a survey, our trained interviewers collected data on the demographics, types of drugs, HIV testing history, and self-reported HIV status of the participants. We analyzed the data using the venues and hotpots as clusters to report the percentages of recent HIV tests and self-reported HIV prevalence overall and in subgroups defined by demographic characteristics and locations.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>Among the 1385 participants, most were from Kabul city (28.9%), spoke Dari (67.4%), were aged 25\u201334 years (42.1%), and were married (52.4%). Overall, 70.7% (95% CI 67.6\u201373.6) (ranging from 20.0% in Kandahar to 99.3% in Mazar-i-Sharif) were tested for HIV within the past 12 months. Among those who had ever been tested for HIV, 20.7% (95% CI 17.8\u201324.0) (ranging from 0% in Zarang to 63.2% in Kabul) reported being positive for HIV.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>Compared with the results of a similar study in 2012, we found a significant improvement in HIV testing coverage among PWID in Afghanistan. The high self-reported HIV prevalence among this group also highlights the need for targeted screening and treatment programs for PWID in Afghanistan, particularly in the cities of Kabul and Jalalabad.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12954-025-01183-2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,14]],"date-time":"2025-03-14T09:08:53Z","timestamp":1741943333000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Recent HIV testing and self-reported HIV prevalence among men who inject drugs in Afghanistan: a nationwide survey in 2019\u20132020"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"22","author":[{"given":"Ajmal","family":"Sabawoon","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sima","family":"Naderi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Said Iftekhar","family":"Sadaat","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Abdul","family":"Rasheed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Alim","family":"Atarud","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Fatemeh","family":"Tavakoli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hamid","family":"Sahrifi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ali","family":"Mirzazadeh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"1183_CR1","unstructured":"UNAIDS. UNAIDS Country factsheets: Afghanistan [Internet]. [cited 2024 Dec 6]. Available from: https:\/\/www.unaids.org\/en\/regionscountries\/countries\/afghanistan"},{"key":"1183_CR2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e0262405","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0262405","volume":"17","author":"A Rasheed","year":"2022","unstructured":"Rasheed A, Sharifi H, Wesson P, Pashtoon SJ, Tavakoli F, Ghalekhani N, et al. Mapping and population size estimates of people who inject drugs in Afghanistan in 2019: synthesis of multiple methods. PLoS ONE. 2022;17:e0262405.","journal-title":"PLoS ONE"},{"key":"1183_CR3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"127","DOI":"10.1016\/j.drugalcdep.2014.07.022","volume":"143","author":"H Ruise\u00f1or-Escudero","year":"2014","unstructured":"Ruise\u00f1or-Escudero H, Wirtz AL, Berry M, Mfochive-Njindan I, Paikan F, Yousufi HA, et al. Risky behavior and correlates of HIV and hepatitis C virus infection among people who inject drugs in three cities in Afghanistan. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2014;143:127\u201333.","journal-title":"Drug Alcohol Depend"},{"key":"1183_CR4","unstructured":"Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, National AIDS Control Program - MoPH of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Integrated Behavioral & Biological Surveillance (IBBS) in Afghanistan,Findings of 2012 IBBS survey and comparison to 2009 IBBS survey. 2012."},{"key":"1183_CR5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e64604","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0064604","volume":"8","author":"KK Venkatesh","year":"2013","unstructured":"Venkatesh KK, Becker JE, Kumarasamy N, Nakamura YM, Mayer KH, Losina E, et al. Clinical impact and cost-effectiveness of expanded voluntary HIV testing in India. PLoS ONE. 2013;8:e64604.","journal-title":"PLoS ONE"},{"key":"1183_CR6","unstructured":"WHO EMRO| HIV testing. and counselling| About| AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases [Internet]. [cited 2024 Dec 6]. Available from: https:\/\/www.emro.who.int\/asd\/about\/testing-counselling.html"},{"key":"1183_CR7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"15","DOI":"10.2105\/AJPH.2019.305462","volume":"110","author":"F Kapadia","year":"2020","unstructured":"Kapadia F, Landers S. Ending the HIV epidemic: getting to zero AND staying at zero. Am J Public Health. 2020;110:15\u20136.","journal-title":"Am J Public Health"},{"key":"1183_CR8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"390","DOI":"10.1186\/s12879-021-06100-z","volume":"21","author":"Y Mohammadi","year":"2021","unstructured":"Mohammadi Y, Mirzaei M, Shirmohammadi-Khorram N, Farhadian M. Identifying risk factors for late HIV diagnosis and survival analysis of people living with HIV\/AIDS in Iran (1987\u20132016). BMC Infect Dis. 2021;21:390.","journal-title":"BMC Infect Dis"},{"key":"1183_CR9","unstructured":"AFG_2019_countryreport.pdf [Internet]. [cited 2024 Dec 6]. Available from: https:\/\/www.unaids.org\/sites\/default\/files\/country\/documents\/AFG_2019_countryreport.pdf"},{"key":"1183_CR10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"103304","DOI":"10.1016\/j.drugpo.2021.103304","volume":"96","author":"KMA Trayner","year":"2021","unstructured":"Trayner KMA, Palmateer NE, McAuley A, Metcalfe R, Goldberg DJ, Peters E, et al. Evaluation of the scale-up of HIV testing among people who inject drugs in Scotland in the context of an ongoing HIV outbreak. Int J Drug Policy. 2021;96:103304.","journal-title":"Int J Drug Policy"},{"key":"1183_CR11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e2244734","DOI":"10.1001\/jamanetworkopen.2022.44734","volume":"5","author":"N El-Bassel","year":"2022","unstructured":"El-Bassel N, McCrimmon T, Wu E, Chang M, Terlikbayeva A, Hunt T, et al. Effectiveness of an intervention to improve HIV service delivery for people who inject drugs in Kazakhstan: A cluster trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5:e2244734.","journal-title":"JAMA Netw Open"},{"key":"1183_CR12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"16","DOI":"10.1186\/s12954-022-00595-8","volume":"19","author":"AR Iryawan","year":"2022","unstructured":"Iryawan AR, Stoicescu C, Sjahrial F, Nio K, Dominich A. The impact of peer support on testing, linkage to and engagement in HIV care for people who inject drugs in Indonesia: qualitative perspectives from a community-led study. Harm Reduct J. 2022;19:16.","journal-title":"Harm Reduct J"},{"key":"1183_CR13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2568","DOI":"10.2174\/1381612823666170329125820","volume":"23","author":"M Detsis","year":"2017","unstructured":"Detsis M, Tsioutis C, Karageorgos SA, Sideroglou T, Hatzakis A, Mylonakis E. Factors associated with HIV testing and HIV treatment adherence: A systematic review. Curr Pharm Des. 2017;23:2568\u201378.","journal-title":"Curr Pharm Des"},{"key":"1183_CR14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"184","DOI":"10.1007\/s11904-022-00602-4","volume":"19","author":"R Sundararajan","year":"2022","unstructured":"Sundararajan R, Ponticiello M, Nansera D, Jeremiah K, Muyindike W. Interventions to increase HIV testing uptake in global settings. Curr HIV\/AIDS Rep. 2022;19:184\u201393.","journal-title":"Curr HIV\/AIDS Rep"},{"key":"1183_CR15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Raifman S, DeVost MA, Digitale JC, Chen Y-H, Morris MD. Respondent-Driven Sampling: a Sampling Method for Hard-to-Reach Populations and Beyond. Current Epidemiology Reports [Internet]. 2022;9:38\u201347. Available from: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s40471-022-00287-8","DOI":"10.1007\/s40471-022-00287-8"},{"key":"1183_CR16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"55","DOI":"10.1007\/s11524-018-0316-9","volume":"96","author":"HF Raymond","year":"2019","unstructured":"Raymond HF, Chen Y-H, McFarland W. Starfish sampling: a novel, hybrid approach to recruiting hidden populations. 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