In this study, we investigated how individual
attributes, dyad characteristics and social network characteristics
may influence engaging in receptive syringe
sharing, distributive syringe sharing and sharing cookers in
injecting partnerships of IDUs in St Petersburg, Russia. We
found that all three levels were associated with injecting
equipment sharing, and that dyad characteristics were
modified by characteristics of the social network. Selfreported
HIV discordance and male gender concordance
played a role in the risk of equipment sharing. Dyad
interventions may not be sufficient to reduce injecting risk
in IDU partnerships, but a combination of dyad and network
interventions that target both IDU partnerships and
the entire IDU population may be more appropriate to
address injecting risk among IDUs.