Where and how do Polish patients contract HIV?

Until now, few studies have focused on the relationship between place of living, the level of education and HIV infection in Poland. The anonymous questionnaires containing questions about place of living and level of education one year before diagnosis of HIV infection were distributed among HIV-infected patients during their meetings or were sent to patients of the HIV/AIDS reference treatment centres in Poland. Among patients who responded to questionnaire women contracting HIV infection through injecting psychoactive drugs and by heterosexual contacts predominate. Prior to diagnosis, most injection drug users who responded to questionnaire (66.4%) lived in villages and small towns (up to 100,000 inhabitants), usually with parents, and the majority (69.8%) were poorly educated (still continued or already completed primary or basic vocational school). Better educated were those who contracted the infection trough heterosexual contacts. In this group, no differences were observed in relation to the place of living. HIV infected men who have sex with men were better educated, most of them lived in Warsaw and other large cities. Despite all the limitations, the findings suggest that majority of HIV infections in Poland are acquired by young people living in small towns and villages who are poorly educated. So the most urgent need exist to enhance HIV prevention amongst young people in Poland.