NACADA and Mombasa County officials during the meeting at the county headquarters. [Photo/David Otini]
National Agency for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA) on Friday engaged Mombasa County Government officials in assessing the drug abuse situation in the county.The drug-fighting body and officials from the Mombasa health department held a review meeting at the county headquarters to discuss the progress of the Medically Assisted Treatment (MAT) programme for treating drug users in the county.The officials discussed the drug abuse situation in the county before the inception of the methadone programme two years ago, as well as the programme’s successes and challenges.The team, led by NACADA director Stephen Mairori and Dr Anisa Baghazal of medically assisted therapy, deliberated better ways of tackling the spread of HIV among recovering drug addicts and policies that support the programme among other issues.The county, through the Department of Youth, Gender and Sports, offered to support recovered drug users by initiating business training programmes and providing them with loans to start businesses to avoid relapses.The participants also resolved to come up with a committee and technical working group for harm reduction that will include all the aspects of people who use drugs such as patients of TB and STIs to tackle challenges affecting them.“The county is supporting more than 700 former addicts with methadone drugs at the Kisauni MAT Clinic,” said Baghazal during the meeting.Other stakeholders who attended the meeting include National AIDS and STI's Control Programme (NASCOP), Muslim Education and Welfare Association (MEWA), the Kenya Red Cross and Reachout Centre Trust.