News
Nigeria, with her huge population continues to
experience an untold effect of drug use especially among youth
“I have been
injecting drugs for a long time and we share syringes,” says Ali who lives in
the suburb of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and recently diagnosed to be
co-infected with Tuberculosis (TB) and HIV. Consequent to difficulties of life
in the streets, Ali was exposed to drug use as early as age 10 and started
using injectable drugs when he was 14. “I wish I can stop now though, but It is
very difficult” he laments.
In response to the plight of people like Ali, the
Nigerian Government is making moves to end communicable diseases among people
who use drugs.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as
of 2017 estimated that 271 million people globally were said to use drugs of
which 11.3 million are injectable (Source: UN World Drug report 2019). In
addition to associated mortality, injecting drug use has been linked with
transmission of communicable diseases including HIV, Hepatitis C, Tuberculosis
and a host of other blood-borne infections. People who inject drugs (PWID)
account for 10% of HIV infections and about 23% of new Hepatitis C infections,
while Tuberculosis is a leading AIDS-defining illness and cause of mortality among
people living with HIV who inject drugs (Source: WHO - HIV Topics / WHO
Hepatitis C factsheet).
“Nigeria, with her huge population continues to
experience an untold effect of drug use especially among youth,” say Mr Mashood
Lawal Director Food and Drugs, Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH).
In addition, Government is making concerted efforts
to address communicable diseases associated with drug use. This is being
achieved through programming for key population groups within various national
programmes focusing mainly on behavioral change and preventive interventions,
including attempts at biomedical support and dilatory effects.
An independent report commissioned by the Global
Fund in 2016 indicates a burgeoning need for a full package of interventions
for these population group as defined by WHO. Also the findings of the national
drug use survey conducted in 2018, revealed that 14.4% of the general
population use drugs, a rate higher than the global average of 5.6%. The report
further reveals that there are more people who inject drugs than previously
estimated and of concern are injecting practices with increased risk of HIV and
Viral Hepatitis transmission (UNODC-National Drug Use Survey Report,2018 ).
This evidence calls for a holistic health sector-driven approach for curbing
the menace of drug use.
With this compelling evidence, WHO advocated to FMoH
for the need to define a health response for the drug control. Hence, the
National Programme on Drug Demand and Harm Reduction (NDDHR) which is closely
linked to the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Drug Abuse
(PACEDA) was established in May,2019 with the mandate of coordinating the
health sector response to drug use. Similarly, a National technical working
group (TWG) was inaugurated to support the take-off of the programme.
“Since inception of the programme, WHO has been at
the forefront, leading other partners including the UN Organization for Drug
Control, Global Fund and national stakeholders to support the government to develop
a policy statement and strategy which will be incorporated into the National
Drug Control Master Plan,” states Dr Rex Mpazanje, Communicable/Non
communicable diseases cluster lead for WHO Nigeria.
“Similarly, a road map and National guideline for
the implementation of a needle and syringe program (NSP) geared towards the
elimination of communicable among PWID was developed. The NSP which is being
funded through the Global Fund with technical support from WHO is expected to
be piloted in 3 states across the country in the coming months,” he added.
Beyond communicable diseases, WHO is concerned with
other health and social burdens associated with drug use. Therefore, efforts
will continue to be made to enhance public health actions by providing the
required leadership, strengthening partnerships and collaboration between
government and health institutions towards the achievement of Sustainable
Development Goals 2030 (SDG 2030).
Leave your comment.
0 comments:
Post a Comment