Table 2 Substance use practices among PWID (n = 943)
|  | Cape Town (n = 301) | Durban (n = 318) | Pretoria (n = 324) | Total (n = 943) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Male (n = 252) | Female (n = 49) | Male (n = 287) | Female (n = 31) | Male (n = 280) | Female (n = 44) | Male (n = 819) | Female (n = 124) | |
Substances used in last month | ||||||||
 Heroin | 229 (91%) | 47 (96%) | 283 (99%) | 31 (100%) | 192 (69%) | 29 (66%) | 704 (86%) | 107 (86%) |
 Methamphetamine /ATS | 204 (81%) | 39 (80%) | 8 (3%) | 0 | 10 (4%) | 1 (2%) | 222 (27%) | 40 (32%) |
 Cannabis | 29 (12%) | 4 (8%) | 19 (6%) | 5 (16%) | 70 (25%) | 14 (32%) | 118 (14%) | 23 (19%) |
 Nyaope (heroin, cannabis mixture) | 0 | 0 | 6 (2%) | 2 (6%) | 92 (33%) | 14 (32%) | 98 (12%) | 16 (13%) |
 Cocaine | 5 (2%) | 1 (2%) | 7 (2%) | 2 (6%) | 86 (32%) | 13 (30%) | 98 (12%) | 16 (13%) |
 Methcathinone | 1 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 | 0 | 7 (3%) | 3 (7%) | 8 (1%) | 3 (2%) |
Injected drugs in last month | 239 (95%) | 46 (93%) | 282 (98%) | 31 (100%) | 269 (96%) | 41 (93%) | 790 (96%) | 118 (95%) |
Drug last injected | ||||||||
 Heroin | 224 (89%) | 44 (90%) | 279 (97%) | 31 (100%) | 267 95%) | 41 (93%) | 770 (94%) | 116 (93%) |
 Methamphetamine | 15 (6%) | 2 (4%) | 2 (1%) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 (2%) | 2 (2%) |
Average frequency of injecting (≥ 4 times per day) | 193 (77%) | 37 (76%) | 174 (61%) | 18 (58%) | 204 (73%) | 25 (60%) | 569 (69%) | 80 (66%) |
New needle/injection last time | 185 (73%) | 34 (69%) | 260 (91%) | 27 (87%) | 181 (65%) | 35 (79%) | 626 (76%) | 96 (77%) |
Shared needle last time | 46 (18%) | 18 (37%) | 56 (20%) | 3 (10%) | 35 (13%) | 5 (11%) | 137 (17%) | 26 (21%) |
Currently on OST for ≥ 30 days | 10 (4%) | 1 (2%) | 10 (3%) | 2 (6%) | 17 (6%) | 3 (7%) | 37 (5%) | 6 (5%) |