Theme: Epidemiology & Public Health Research Year: 2024
Background: Germany has committed to the WHO’s goals of eliminating HIV and viral hepatitis B and C (HBV, HCV) as public health threats by 2030. People who inject drugs (PWID) are at high risk for these infections. To tailor prevention, testing, and treatment, monitoring of validated indicators at national and regional level is necessary.
Methods: DRUCK-Surv is a sentinel system for HBV, HCV and HIV among PWID who currently inject or ever injected drugs in 15 sentinel cities across Germany. It is built on a pilot study (2020-2022) which identified effective and accepted methods for collecting biobehavioural data from PWID. Data will be collected every 2-3 years among 3,000 PWID recruited in low threshold drug services and opioid substitution treatment (OST) practices in the sentinel cities. Staff will be trained to obtain participants’ informed consent, assist in completing a questionnaire and collect capillary blood as Dried Blood Spots. Molecular (PCR) and serological tests will be performed for HBV, HCV and HIV in a central laboratory, and infection status will be communicated to participants by the recruiting site. Participants receive a 15 Euro incentive. First data will be collected in 2025.
Results: Collected indicators include viraemic and antibody prevalence of HBV, HCV, and HIV, risk behaviours, coverage of harm reduction (drug consumption materials, OST, take-home naloxone) and prevention (HBV vaccination, HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis), as well as self-reported continuum of care for infections. Sub-populations at higher risk for infections and trends can be identified on local, regional and national level.
Conclusion: DRUCK-Surv will help to track progress towards elimination of HBV, HCV and HIV among PWID in Germany. The evidence generated will inform stakeholders on different levels to assess the impact of interventions and adapt measures and strategies.