TY - JOUR
T1 - High occurrence of witnessing an opioid overdose in a sample of women who use heroin in Tanzania
T2 - Implications for overdose prevention
AU - Saleem, Haneefa T.
AU - Likindikoki, Samuel
AU - Nonyane, Bareng A.S.
AU - Mbwambo, Jessie
AU - Latkin, Carl
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - Background: Opioid overdose is preventable and reversible. To target overdose prevention training and naloxone distribution, it is important to understand characteristics of those people who use drugs most likely to witness an overdose. In this paper we report the proportion and characteristics of women who use heroin that have witnessed an opioid overdose in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey with 200 women who use heroin. We fitted unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression models with witnessing an opioid overdose as the dependent variable and sociodemographic and drug use-related variables as independent variables. Results: The majority of participants (85%) reported having ever witnessed an opioid overdose. Age (adjusted Odds Ratio [aOR] = 1.09; 95% CI: 1.02–1.12), having ever attempted to stop heroin use (aOR = 11.27; 95% CI: 2.25–56.46), history of arrest (aOR = 3.75; 95% CI: 1.32–10.63), and spending time daily in places where people use drugs (aOR = 3.72; 95% CI: 1.43–9.64) were found to be independently associated with ever witnessing an overdose. Conclusions: Findings suggest the need for expanded access to naloxone to lay people and community and peer-based overdose prevention training in Tanzania, including the distribution of naloxone in settings with high drug use.
AB - Background: Opioid overdose is preventable and reversible. To target overdose prevention training and naloxone distribution, it is important to understand characteristics of those people who use drugs most likely to witness an overdose. In this paper we report the proportion and characteristics of women who use heroin that have witnessed an opioid overdose in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey with 200 women who use heroin. We fitted unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression models with witnessing an opioid overdose as the dependent variable and sociodemographic and drug use-related variables as independent variables. Results: The majority of participants (85%) reported having ever witnessed an opioid overdose. Age (adjusted Odds Ratio [aOR] = 1.09; 95% CI: 1.02–1.12), having ever attempted to stop heroin use (aOR = 11.27; 95% CI: 2.25–56.46), history of arrest (aOR = 3.75; 95% CI: 1.32–10.63), and spending time daily in places where people use drugs (aOR = 3.72; 95% CI: 1.43–9.64) were found to be independently associated with ever witnessing an overdose. Conclusions: Findings suggest the need for expanded access to naloxone to lay people and community and peer-based overdose prevention training in Tanzania, including the distribution of naloxone in settings with high drug use.
KW - Heroin
KW - Overdose
KW - Tanzania
KW - Women
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U2 - 10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103287
DO - 10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103287
M3 - Article
C2 - 33994309
AN - SCOPUS:85106325893
SN - 0955-3959
VL - 96
JO - International Journal of Drug Policy
JF - International Journal of Drug Policy
M1 - 103287
ER -