Background
Body sites used for drug injection by people who inject drugs has implications for safety, harms and risk-exposure during injecting. This study was undertaken to understand how effective, community-based messaging by DAPHO peer workers on safe injecting spots are and why there are still reported cases of injecting at high-risk spots.
Methods
A cross-sectional study was conducted involving the use of structured questionnaires to collect data from people who inject drugs (PWID) at community settings (injecting hotspots) in five (5) local governments in Gombe State. A total of 50 participants were interviewed in June 2025 through convenience sampling at hotspots served by the DAPHO outreach team. Descriptive statistics and cross-tabulations was used to organize and analyse responses gotten from respondents to make sense of the subject.
Results
The male dominated population (3:1) with dominant age range of 26 – 40 had a high preference for mid to fine guage needles (22 – 27) with 85% indicating that the needles were appropriate for their preferred injecting spot. 94% rotated injecting spots with 53% rotating between 2 – 5 spots. 63% inject themselves leaving 37% who may not have or have minimal opinion on deciding the injecting spot. Vein visibility and ease of injecting were the top determinants to injecting spot selection. However stigma, discrimination and law enforcement arrest due to visible injecting spots served as secondary considerations for choosing injecting spots.
Conclusion
Vein visibility and ease of injecting were the major determinants of injecting spots, showing a practical approach to spot selection. Coincidentally, the lower arm and leg being safe injecting spots have visible vein and are easy to inject at. There is a need to promote spot rotation and use of appropriate needles while addressing social drivers of high-risk injecting spot selection like stigma, discrimination and law enforcement harassment and arrest. |