I-Track - Enhanced Surveillance of Risk Behaviours among Injecting Drug Users in Canada

Pilot Survey Report, February 2004

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As part of second generation HIV surveillance in Canada, Health Canada, in collaboration with provincial, regional and local health authorities, community stakeholders and researchers, is establishing an enhanced surveillance system that will track HIV and hepatitis C-associated risk behaviours as well as HIV and hepatitis C prevalence in injecting drug users (IDU) in urban and semi-urban centres across Canada (I-Track survey).

Through this system, national, and to a certain extent, regional and local trends in injecting and sexual risk behaviours can be assessed. Further, these risk behaviour and prevalence data will enhance existing national surveillance data, improve the ability to produce national incidence and prevalence estimates, and allow for more effective monitoring of the HIV and hepatitis C epidemics among IDU in Canada.

The pilot phase of the I-Track survey was successfully undertaken in 2002 and 2003 in Regina, Victoria, and Sudbury and Toronto; linkages were also made with IDU studies in Quebec. The findings of the pilot phase of the survey are presented in the I-Track Pilot Survey Report. Phase I of the survey is currently underway.

Print:
ISBN: 0-662-36342-6
Cat. No.: H39-4/29-2004E

On-line:
ISBN: 0-662-36344-2
Cat. No.: H39-4/29-2004E-HTML

PDF:
ISBN: 0-662-36343-4
Cat. No.: H39-4/29-2004E-PDF

Table of Contents

Complete Report - PDF Version
(73 pages, 669 KB)

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Information to Readers

The Surveillance and Risk Assessment Division, Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Health Canada, together with its collaborators is pleased to present the report of the pilot survey of the I-Track Enhanced Surveillance of Risk Behaviours among Injecting Drug Users (IDU) in Canada conducted in 2002 and 2003.

The pilot phase was conducted between fall 2002 and spring 2003 in Regina, Sudbury, Toronto and Victoria to assess the feasibility of the proposed methods for conducting behavioural surveillance of IDU populations across Canada. Behavioural surveillance among IDU has been ongoing within the SurvUDI research group in Quebec and Ottawa since 1995. At the beginning of 2003, this group conducted a feasibility study of the I-Track questionnaire and the collection of DBS in selected sites within the network. Recruitment for the feasibility study was completed in August 2003 and analysis of these data is still pending.

The purposes of this document are:

• To outline the process of development of a national enhanced surveillance system of risk behaviours among IDU in Canada, and to present the evaluation of the pilot project. This includes feedback from collaborating partners in Regina, Sudbury, Toronto and Victoria, SurvUDI group, and members of expert advisory group.
• To present the results of the data collected in Regina, Sudbury, Toronto and Victoria.

The results of the data collected by SurvUDI group (in 268 participants) are not presented in this document and will be incorporated at a later stage.

The lessons learned from the pilot study represent a key component in the establishment of a national surveillance system that would track HIV- and hepatitis C (HCV) - associated risk behaviour in IDU populations in urban and semi-urban centres across Canada. Ongoing monitoring of risk behaviours in IDU populations in urban and semi-urban locales is essential for program planning and evaluation, and I-Track is able to provide such information at the national and local levels. The success of the pilot study demonstrates that a national surveillance system for monitoring of risk behaviours in IDU populations can be established in Canada with the collaboration of local and provincial health authorities, researchers and community-based programs. Special thanks must be given to the study participants themselves without whose cooperation this study would not have been possible.

We look forward to launching Phase One of the I-Track Survey in the fall of 2003.

Chris Archibald MDCM, MHSc, FRCPC Director

Yogesh Choudhri MD, MPH Contractor HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Section

Surveillance and Risk Assessment Division
Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control
Tunney's Pasture, AL 0602B
Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0K9
Tel: (613) 954-5169
Fax: (613) 946-8695

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