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Mauritius: Methadone Programme Soon Extended to Women
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L'Express (Port Louis)
8 August 2007
Posted to the web 8 August 2007
Pauline Etienne
Port Louis
While the pilot project for the use of methadone to reduce drug addiction was launched last November, one of the major failures was that it did not address women. This is about to change.
The call of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has finally been heard. The ministry of Health is extending the pilot project of methadone to women. Since the project was launched last November, NGOs have kept on requesting its extension to women. The building has finally been identified - it will be located in Brown Sequard Hospital - and the project should start in the coming weeks.
"As we are undergoing a project for men at the national detoxification centre of Barkly, the same project will be led in a new building for women. I can tell you we will go very quickly with this programme," says Dr Mariam Timol from the ministry of Health. "As there are many more men who are drug-addicted compared to women, the first step of the pilot-project addressed only men. But, as we are seeing that it works well, we have decided to extend it to women as well."
If Imran Dhannoo, director of the Idrice Goomany Centre, agrees that there are more men among the drug addicts, he nevertheless points out that an increasing number of women have been affected by the scourge over the past five years. "We have no official statistics yet on the number of women who are drug addicts but, in the field, we can see that more and more women are concerned," adds Nicolas Ritter, spokesperson of Pils. "Very often, these women live with a drug addict and end up being caught by the addiction as well," comments Imran Dhannoo. The Rapid Situation Analysis should soon give detailed statistics on drug addiction, "which is becoming necessary to fight the problems".
Both of them welcome the initiative of the government to extend the methadone programme to women. As Nicolas Ritter points out, "It is true that there are more men among drug addicts but there are also women who are concerned by the problem and who would really like to get through it."
Methadone is a substitute medicine that should enable drug addicts to come out of their addiction. The pilot project set up by the ministry in November last year is modelled on the Spanish programme where drug addicts are first sent for a residential treatment at Barkly for two weeks where their bodies are accustomed to the product. Then, during the next six months, they are given a certain dose of the product everyday. "The real outcomes of the programme can't be defined yet. It will take some time to really determine them. However, we can already make a first statement that there is a major positive physical change in patients. They start eating again and doing some exercise," comments the director of Idrice Goomany Centre.
Striving to find more space
Three rehabilitation centres, among which the Idrice Goomany centre, work in collaboration with the ministry of Health for this project. "Every two weeks, each centre sends five drug addicts to the national detoxification centre - which means that 15 drug addicts benefit from the programme every two weeks," explains Imran Dhannoo.
"Unfortunately, this is quite low for the number of people waiting for the treatment. The ministry of Health is striving to find more space to increase the number of people who will benefit from the programme. Its extension to women is a first step," comments the director of Idrice Goomany centre.
No excuse...
In Mauritius, the population most at risk of being infected with HIV-AIDS consists of drug addicts. So the decrease in the number of drug addicts should lead to a drop in HIV-AIDS infections as well. This is why Pils is so committed to the extension of the methadone programme - just like for the needle-exchange programme that it initiated. "The problem of drug addiction goes beyond Port-Louis and its suburbs; finding a solution to it requires more financial means.
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The HIV Bill, voted in December and which aimed at legislating to enable the needle exchange programme, was gazetted last Thursday, which means the act has been promulgated. This means the government has no excuse to start the programme now," says Nicolas Ritter. "Fighting drug addiction does not only mean saving human lives. It also means a drop in crime, hospital fees and rehabilitation among other positive consequences," he adds.
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