Professor awarded for HIV prevention method

By: Emily Volz

Posted: 11/7/08

UConn sociology professor Robert Broadhead has received an award from the National Institute of Drug Abuse that will enable him to adapt his already successful HIV-prevention method in regions overseas, where drug-related HIV infection is prevalent.

The NIDA award will fund the global expansion of his peer-driven intervention program for one year.

Broadhead has been developing a successful HIV prevention method in Connecticut since the 1990s. He currently teaches his intervention method to researchers and public health officials in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.

"This research has brought $8.5 million to UConn since 1993," Broadhead said. "We've been able to hire scores of graduate students who have worked on the project for different lengths of time."

The money also lets UConn replace Broadhead in the classroom, giving him time to develop his research and provide assistance to overseas programs.

Broadhead believes earlier efforts to control the spread of HIV were not sufficient.

"We are still so far behind in combating HIV in Central and Eastern Europe and Asia," Broadhead said. "We are playing a very serious catch-up game."

Broadhead's HIV prevention method focuses on injection drug users. He has developed a program of peer intervention, in which active injection drug users are recruited to educate fellow injection drug users about risks of contracting HIV through injection drug use.

Active injection drug users who choose to participate in the peer intervention program are offered cash incentives. Some injection drug users who participate in the program are even paid to recruit peers.

This winter, Broadhead will be running his peer-driven intervention program overseas.

"I'll be returning to Ukraine in December to provide technical assistance to health educators," Broadhead said. His work will focus on administering the model he developed and teaching health educators how to implement his model and work with injection drug users.

In Ukraine, where nearly one-third of injection drug users are HIV positive; Broadhead's pilot project has already yielded such promising results that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is now implementing the intervention program at 17 new sites in Ukraine.

When Broadhead's method was tested four years ago in Yaroslavl Province, Russia, more than 3,100 active injection drug users were recruited according to UConn's news Web site. The test found that there was a significant reduction in drug injection frequency and sharing of styringes and other injection equipment. Additionally, overall knowledge of HIV increased among drug users' at the target sites.

Broadhead has been tweaking his intervention methods for years. In Tutayv, Russia, Broadhead offered project participants food vouchers instead of cash incentives. After six months, Broadhead began offering cash incentives again, as participants didn't respond as favorably to food vouchers.

Broadhead said some people who are unfamiliar with his model will question if it encourages injection drug use.

"As they become more familiar, they come to understand it rather quickly," Broadhead said. "It's a matter of prioritizing which problems must be handled immediately."

"I think the world community agrees that combating (HIV) is much more important," he said.

Broadhead said that his program often does help reduce injection drug use, as well.

"When we start working with people who inject drugs and help them start to understand better the risks that they face, those people are very enthusiastic about receiving help, including drug treatment," Broadhead said.

Broadhead is currently working on a manual for implementing his peer-driven intervention model in areas around the world. The manual will be available in multiple languages, including Russian, Chinese (Mandarin), Vietnamese, Thai, Spanish and English.