A rapid assessment and its implications for a needle social marketing intervention among injecting drug users in China

A two week rapid assessment was conducted as part of a feasibility study for a needle social marketing intervention in a semi-urban community in Guangxi Autonomous Region, China, in October 1999. The aim of the rapid assessment was to collect data on local drug user values and behaviours to assist in the design of an acceptable needle social marketing intervention, which could be implemented in this community. Meetings were held with police and detoxification center officials, and in-depth interviews conducted among 25 male and female smoking and/or injecting drug users (IDUs) in the local detoxification center and in the community, and with three shop assistants from two pharmacies. One of the pharmacies was identified as being the most frequented by IDUs in the area. Data were mainly descriptive relying on the broader context of what it means to be a drug user living in a semi-urban area in China, and is not by any means comprehensive or representative of the total drug user population in this community. Nevertheless, the data have implications for a needle social marketing intervention in terms of which drug user groups need to be targeted, their risk behaviours, barriers, motivations, and possible messages and products needed to promote a successful and acceptable intervention.