Research Project
MASLIHAT Intervention for Tajik Male Migrants Who Inject Drugs
- Principal Investigator
- Mackesy-Amiti, Mary Ellen
- Start Date
- 2020-08-01
- End Date
- 2024-05-31
- Research Area(s)
- Global Health
- Funding Source
- National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Drug Abuse) R01DA050464
Abstract
Temporary labor migrants who inject drugs are at exceptionally high risk for acquiring HIV and transmitting it between country borders. The MASLIHAT intervention was designed to reduce HIV acquisition and transmission due to drug, alcohol, and sexual behavior among Tajik migrant men who inject drugs temporarily working in Moscow, and their sexual and drug-using partners in both Russia and Tajikistan. MASLIHAT is a cultural adaptation of the SHIELD model, which is a CDC-designated evidence-based best practice intervention in the U.S., for use with Tajik labor migrants in Russia who inject drugs. The model recruits and trains current and former Tajik migrants who inject drugs as "peer educators" in delivering the intervention to others in their social networks while simultaneously reducing their own risk. This study will test the efficacy of the MASLIHAT intervention against a control condition designed to be equal to the intervention condition in the number of sessions, duration, and interest level. By transforming their own risk behavior, and encouraging others at risk to do so as well, migrant peer educators can initiate positive changes at the individual and social network levels in both their host country and also their home country when they return. The impact of the proposed study lies in the development of a much needed scientifically tested intervention that reduces HIV transmission among migrants who inject drugs within and across country borders. View sponsor listing.