The Regional Office for Central Asia of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Mental Health of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan conducted a webinar on ensuring the continuity and sustainability of treatment, care and rehabilitation services for people with drug use disorders.
People with drug use disorders, especially those who inject drugs, may often have weakened immune systems, or suffer from such medical conditions as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and/or C, tuberculosis, pulmonary or cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancer. Besides, stigma and discrimination associated with drug use and drug use disorders often result in limited access to basic resources such as housing, employment, healthcare and social protection. For all of these reasons, people who use drugs and have drug use disorders are facing more challenges keeping themselves safe and are at increased risk of contracting COVID-19.
Since the beginning of the HIV epidemic, HIV prevention, treatment and care services have focused on the needs of people who use opioid drugs. However, the world is changing, new drugs get invented, and with them new risks appear.
The webinar aimed to create a platform for interested professionals to exchange important international experience on ensuring the continuity and sustainability of drug dependence treatment, prevention, care and support for people who use drugs and how to implement evidence-based policies that ensure access to effective programs on drug addiction and HIV treatment for people who use drugs.
Speakers made presentations on World Drug Report 2020 and the global drug market trends, research on the impact of COVID-19 on the Internet trade of psychoactive substances in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and pilot study of the epidemiological situation associated with the use of new psychoactive substances in Kazakhstan.
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Borikhan Shaumarov, Regional Coordinator of Sub Programme on “Drug prevention, treatment, reintegration and HIV prevention” of UNODC Programme for Central Asia presented findings of the rapid assessment of the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the situation related to drug use, as well as on the work of drug treatment services and harm reduction programs in Central Asian countries.
The webinar was a part of Sub-Programme on “Drug prevention, treatment, reintegration and HIV prevention” of UNODC Programme for Central Asia for 2015-2020.
Additional information:
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Shakhnoza Zafari
Communication and External Relations Officer
Phone: +998935547895
Email: shakhnoza.zafari[at]un.org
