{UAH} WACD, ANCS issue Dakar’s Appeal on drug consumption in W/Africa
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WACD, ANCS issue Dakar's Appeal on drug consumption in W/Africa
Published on 11.09.2018 at 17h21 by APA News
The West African Commission on Drugs (WACD) and the National Alliance of Communities for Health (ANCS), a Senegalese civil society organization, delivered on Tuesday the "Dakar Appeal for commitment to the reduction of risk among drug users in West Africa.""We, participants in the high-level consultation meeting organized by WACD / ANCS (are) concerned about the extent of drug trafficking and its consumption on the continent" said the preamble to the Appeal read by Maguette Mbodj, the executive director of the ANCS.
According to the document, the breakthroughs in the control of the HIV epidemic hide weaknesses in vulnerable and marginalized populations in society, including sex workers, men having sex with men, detainees as well as drug users using injection and other users.
"Among these key risk population groups, drug users using injection are the least known and least controlled segment in Africa. Out of the 49 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, only 16 have data on such drug use. But out the 2.3 million such drug users / users in this part of the continent, there are 564,000 people living with HIV," according to the Appeal.
In issuing the Appeal, its initiators "pledge to remind" all concerned that health policies in Africa should comply with the United Nations recommendations on the treatment of drug addiction, including the Declaration of the Special Session of the UN General Assembly on Drug Demand Reduction Conference (1998) and the UN Information Note on the Prevention of Drug-Related Transmission of HIV / AIDS (2000).
They also urge states to adopt an approach based on public health and respect for human rights, and an appropriate risk reduction strategy.
"We are also committed to encouraging states to put in place laws and policies that promote access to drug treatment services and their decentralization; exhorting states to allocate sufficient resources to the fight against drugs in general and to implement risk reduction strategies, in particular", Mbodj continued.
In its appeal, civil society further called for the removal of constraints, including legal obstacles, to a good implementation of the risk reduction measures and to the development of policies and laws allowing the implementation of programmes.
It invites states and other stakeholders to commit to an alternative to incarcerating drug users, to encourage reduction strategies, to foster a social environment without stigma and discrimination, to ensure their access to treatment facilities, promote their social reintegration and respect for human rights.
The Appeal is part of the regional programme on "Reducing HIV and TB Risks and Other Diseases and Promoting Human Rights of Injecting Drug Users" (PARECO). The programme is implemented by the National Alliance of Communities for Health (ANCS) in five West African countries, including Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau and Senegal.
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