Street children: At risk group for high risk behaviors

The phenomenon of street children is one of the most important concerns facingglobal community. The street children's lifestyle is a risk factor for affecting them to varietytypes of high risk behaviors. This study introduces some high risk behaviors have beenthreatened in Iranian street children.Materials & Methods: The Medline, Embase, and Google Scholar databases were searched toidentify studies published between 2000 and 2015 regarding street children in Iran.Results: There is little information about such children in Iran. Previous statistics show nearly200,000 street children currently settle in Iran. According to result of limited studies, HIVprevalence in the children was 4-5%. About 3.6-9% of children used illicit drug. The 7.8% ofchildren had a history of alcohol consumption. The average age of alcohol consumption andusing drugs were significantly lower in girls than in boys. Although, the results of thesestudies could not be generalized over the country.Conclusion: Despite young people form over one quarter of the Iranian population, they areexcluded from STIs and HIV education and services due to stigma, shame or the fear of beingjudged, and lack of adolescent-friendly services. Amongst this group, street children andyoung IDUs are further excluded and marginalized.

Keywords:

Street children , HIV , AIDS , Drug users , High risk behavior