{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T01:38:58Z","timestamp":1788745138555,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,26]],"date-time":"2024-08-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1724630400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>People who inject drugs (PWID) and people who use drugs (PWUD) are an important population group that remain under-served in Ghana. Though PWID and PWUD are among the key populations most-at-risk to acquire sexually transmitted or blood-borne diseases, they are among those with the least access to human immunodeficiency (HIV), hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) viruses\u2019 prevention, care and treatment services in Ghana due to lack of data on them. We provide a rapid assessment of the PWUD and PWID situation in Ghana.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>This rapid cross-sectional design undertook consultative meetings between the study team and relevant stakeholders, including Civil Society Organizations (CSO) working with PWUD\/PWID. The assessment considered a representative sample of PWID and PWUD. It was conducted in four (4) selected regions of Ghana (Greater Accra, Ashanti, Western, and Northern). Overall, 323 participants were interviewed using respondent-driven sampling (RDS) approach. Information obtained from participants were demographics, HIV risk behaviors, human immunodeficiency (HIV) and sexually transmitted infections (STI)-related knowledge HIV\/HCV\/HBV screening, attitude, and practices among others. Analyses were conducted using Stata version 17 and RDSAT version 7.1.46 software.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Findings<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Drug use was found to be more prevalent among the youth with a median age of 37 years. Majority of the respondents were males (86%). About 28% of the female respondents identified themselves as sex workers, while about 74% have been involved in transactional sex. The median age at which respondents started using and injecting drugs was 20 and 22 years respectively. Majority (68%) of the respondents consume drugs through smoking, with 20% through snorting, inhaling or swallowing and 12% through injection. The drug mostly used among the respondents was heroin (52%). The most commonly injected drug was cocaine (55%). About 64.7% of respondents reported mixing two or more drugs. HIV prevalence among respondents was 2.5%, 12.3% among women and 17.7% among women engaged in sex work, highlighting the overlap vulnerability. The prevalence of hepatitis C was 6.0%, and Hepatitis B was 4.5%. Access to care is limited, with 63% of the respondents never been tested for HIV.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>These rapid assessment findings reveal the challenging conditions for people who use and inject drugs coupled with a relatively high prevalence of HIV and Hepatitis C compared to the general population. However, it also reveals that Ghana has a window of opportunity to prevent an exponential spread of HIV and Hepatitis in this population. Therefore, there is the need to implement prevention and treatment programs for HIV and hepatitis among people who use and inject drugs including essential strategies for an enabling environment in Ghana.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0305923","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,26]],"date-time":"2024-08-26T20:42:05Z","timestamp":1724704925000},"page":"e0305923","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Situational assessment and epidemiology of HIV, HBV and HCV among people who use and inject drugs in Ghana"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6595-9587","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Chris","family":"Guure","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Samuel","family":"Dery","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Carlota","family":"Baptista da Silva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Comfort","family":"Asamoah-Adu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Stephen","family":"Ayisi-Addo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kofi","family":"Diaba","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maria-Goretti","family":"Loglo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Adamu","family":"Mohammed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yaw Akrasi","family":"Sarpong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Samuel","family":"Hanu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kwasi","family":"Torpey","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0305923.ref001","article-title":"United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime","author":"World Drug Report","year":"2021"},{"issue":"9859","key":"pone.0305923.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2095","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(12)61728-0","article-title":"Global and regional mortality from 235 causes of death for 20 age groups in 1990 and 2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010","volume":"380","author":"R. 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