Tajik Migrant Health Education Study

This study will test the efficacy of a peer-education prevention intervention to reduce risky drug, alcohol, and sexual behaviors among male Tajik labor migrants who inject drugs (MWID) while working in Moscow. The peer educator intervention will be compared to a health education control intervention. Each intervention consists of 5 weekly 2-hour small group sessions. Follow-up assessments will be conducted at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after the intervention. It is hypothesized that, compared to MWID who receive the health education control intervention, those who receive the peer educator intervention will have a greater reduction in the frequency of risk behaviors. Similar effects are expected for network members of intervention participants.

The investigators will recruit male Tajik migrants who inject drugs from 12 different sites in Moscow, including bazaars and other work sites. In both study arms, the recruited men (index participants) will be required to recruit two eligible MWID peers for interviews prior to being interviewed themselves. Participants will be randomly assigned to either the peer educator intervention program or the health education intervention program. After peer-recruited network members are enrolled and interviewed, the index participant will participate in the peer educator training or the control group activities. All participants and recruited network members will then be followed and re-interviewed at 3-month intervals for one year to assess changes in risky drug, alcohol, and sexual behaviors due to intervention participation and through diffusion to network members. The investigators will also collect data from voluntary HIV and HCV testing conducted at 6 months (HCV only) and at 12 months (HIV and HCV) post-intervention.

A peer educator prevention intervention program consisting of five weekly 2-hour small group sessions.

Inclusion Criteria: adult Tajik man injected drugs in past 30 days living and working as migrant laborer in Moscow Exclusion Criteria: does not intend to stay in Moscow for the next 12 months

The final data will be shared by depositing it in a public data repository. The final dataset will include self-reported sociodemographic characteristics, HIV transmission knowledge and risk awareness, sexual partners and risk behavior, illicit drug use and injection risk behavior, prevention self-efficacy, and injection drug use network interactions at 5 time points, and HIV and HCV test results at 2 time points. No identifying information will be included in the final dataset.