Heroin and HIV risk in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: youth hangouts, mageto and injecting practices
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Date
2005
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
AIDS care
Abstract
HIV risk through needle sharing is now an emerging phenomenon in Africa. This
article describes the practices that heroin users are producing as they establish
the rules and organization surrounding their drug use. Their practices and
interactions reveal the ways that they become initiated into its use, how they
progress to injecting, and the important role of local neighborhood hangouts in
facilitating this process. Their practices, interactions and narratives also provide
insights into what may be the most appropriate HIV-prevention interventions.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted during the months of February and
July 2003 with 51 male and female injectors residing in 8 neighborhoods in the
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Interviews were content coded and codes were
collapsed into emergent themes around hangout places, initiation of heroin use,
and progression to injecting. Interviews reveal that Dar es Salaam injectors begin
smoking heroin in hangout areas with their friends, either because of peer
pressure, desire, or trickery. One hangout place in particular, referred to as the
‘geto’ (ghetto) is the main place where the organization and rules governing
heroin use are produced. Three main types of heroin ‘ghettoes’ are operating in
Dar es Salaam. As users build a tolerance for the drug they move along a
continuum of practices until they begin to inject. Injecting heroin is a
comparatively recent practice in Africa and coincides with: (1) Tanzania
transitioning to becoming a heroin consuming community; (2) the growing
importance of youth culture; (3) the technical innovation of injecting practices and
the introduction and ease of use of white heroin; and (4) heroin smokers, sniffers,
and inhalers perceived need to escalate their use through a more effective and
satisfying form of heroin ingestion.
Description
Keywords
Heroin, Tanzania, HIV risk
Citation
McCurdy, S.A., Williams, M.L., Kilonzo, G.P., Ross, M.W. and Leshabari, M.T., 2005. Heroin and HIV risk in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: youth hangouts, mageto and injecting practices. AIDS care, 17(sup1), pp.65-76.