The Benefits of HIV Antibody Testing of Saliva in Field Research

Abstract

Much of the data that has been collected as part of the evaluation of the City of Toronto’s prevention programme comes from the interviews undertaken with Injection Drug Users (IDUs) at various locations around the city1. From these, we are able to describe the self-reported sexual and injecting behaviours of our participants. However, our respondents may answer in a fashion which they consider is expected of them rather than according to their actual behaviour. Therefore, the success of prevention programmes which are attributed to results obtained from interview data solely may be questioned on this basis. In contrast, if one can demonstrate a change in HIV infection rates amongst those utilizing compared to those not utilizing the programme or service, then policy makers may be more inclined to accept the validity of the findings. Therefore, in tandem with the analysis of results from our interviews we wished to look at HIV antibody test results in those who attended our needle exchange programme compared to those who did not.