MoH to expand methadone clinics to Busia, Siaya counties

The Health ministry plans to expand treatment and rehabilitation clinics to Western region in the next three months to curb the burden of drug abuse.

The plan will see the ministry set up medically assisted therapy clinics to target people who inject drugs in Busia and Siaya counties.

Also in the plan is Mandera county that has registered an increase in number of PWID.

Kenya started the MAT programme in 2014 to look at how to manage the large number of people who inject drugs in the country.

Currently there are 11 clinics in seven counties with a high prevalence of drug use across the country that provides medication daily to this group.

The seven include Malindi, Mombasa, Lamu, Kwale, Nairobi, Kiambu and Kisumu.

The medically assisted therapy is given daily, thus posing a challenge since some of those recruited into the programme tend to drop out.

To date, close to 10,000 patients have been recruited into the programme with just 8,000 who are active after some either dropped out or completed the dose and are no longer using drugs.

The programme offers a combination of prevention interventions with a strong focus on peer education and structural interventions which include the Needle and Syringe Programme currently available in 14 counties.

“Next year we will be having a behavioural survey and one of the objectives will be to identify more people who are using drugs but not enrolled to the programme,” Mary Mugambi said.

Mugambi is the National AIDs and STI’s Control Programme (key populations) manager .

“The NSP which we have had over the years involves giving them clean needles to prevent them from sharing because sharing is what brings in the infections,” the manager said.

 “When some of them do not have drugs they use the needles that the others have used because they don’t have money to buy needles so they would rather save that money to buy drugs,” she added.

Nascop data shows that more than 3,900 young people aged below 18 years are injecting with drugs, representing 11 per cent of the total number of PWID.

The total number of people injecting with drugs in the country stands at 35,784, with the data showing that 15 per cent of the number are women.

The methadone being used in the country is liquid and currently funded 100 per cent by the Kenyan government.

Syringes are bought by Global Fund and distributed by the Kenya Red Cross.

The National AIDs Control Council CEO Ruth Laibon-Masha said the programme was started as harm reduction due to the fact that the effects of drugs are not only HIV infection but cause raw harm to the body organs, as well as cause infections such as hepatitis C.

“Amongst the places where we have the rehabilitation centres, we also have the National Authority for the Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse running some of the programmes on behalf of the government,” Masha said.

“We have programmes within the prison setting where the use of drugs is high prevalent and also we have programmes that are supported by the government, for example, in Miriritini where we also have that rehabilitation centre.”

Substance use disorder has been linked to risky sexual behaviour and puts the users at risk for getting viral hepatitis.

(edited by Amol Awuor)