Is poverty or wealth at the root of HIV?

HIV Epidemics in the European Region: Vulnerability and Response

“…The characteristics of these studies show that only 8 out of 38 had national coverage [17-18, 32, 76-81]. As with PWID, these samples were mostly recruited via sexually transmitted infection (STI) clinics, such as studies (7) 15 (12) 19 (16) 13 (7) 16 (12) Central Europe (n = 15) 15 (14) 11 (4) 13 (7) 13 (9) 9 (2) 13 (5) 15 (14) 11 (4) 13 (7) East (n = 15) 14 (13) 14 (13) 12 (10) 14 (14) 13 (11) 14 (11) 14 (14) 14 (14) 14 (12) Total 48 (42) 38 (18) 33 (19) 37 (35) 30 (20) 42 (28) 48 (44) 38 (25) in Austria (1,184), Germany (3,880), Kazakhstan (1,960), Russia (4209), and Spain (4,485), and a large community-recruited sample in Ukraine (2,278) [3,32,77,78,82,83]. Studies in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Armenia, described as national samples, were limited by small sample sizes [3,18].…”

“…While there is little evidence of physical dependence on amphetamines, unlike opiates there is no pharmacological substitute that can be used for treatment purposes; once a tolerance is developed withdrawal may be uncomfortable and linked to depression [82]. Cocaine injection is associated with more frequent and uncontrolled injection due to the shorter half-life of the drug, which can lead to more injection and dosage-related harms [83].…”

“…In both Russia and Ukraine, prevalence varied by city, ranging from 2% to 60% in Russia and between 0% in Chernitz, Kharkov, and Uzhgorod, and 42% in Donetsk, Ukraine, (see figure 3.8 below) suggesting outbreaks remain contained at a city level. In Ukraine, prevalence ranged from 13% to 20% [24,81,82].…”

“…Eleven studies that examined risk factors associated with unprotected sexual intercourse measured by reported condom use at last anal intercourse (AI) or UAI were identified by the systematic review [6,10,17,22,24,26,[81][82][83][84][85]. These studies are presented in figures 3.27-3.30.…”

“…Studies from the United Kingdom and Switzerland [82,83] suggest that HIV-negative respondents and those who have not been tested are less likely to report UAI than their HIV-positive counterparts. A Spanish study focusing on men with steady male partners found that serodiscordant or both HIV-positive couples were less likely to practice UAI than both HIV-negative couples [81].…”