I attended a youth forum in our community one
day. The attendees were asked to list
down the relevant issues of children and youth in society today. Different sharing of perspectives and
disclosure of personal experiences narrowed the issues to violence and drug
dependency leading to sexual abuse resulting to teenage pregnancy and HIV/AIDS.
I come from Cebu, an island in the middle of the
Philippine archipelago. Cebu faces the
challenge of dual epidemics of drug abuse and HIV/AIDS. Based on a recent surveillance study, Cebu
City has one of the highest concentrated epidemics of HIV in the Philippines
and the main mode of transmission is via intravenous drug use. This gives us an idea of the burden of the
drug problem in our communities.
Over
7,000 suspected drug users and drug dealers have surrendered in Cebu province
since President Rodrigo Duterte was elected on May 9. President Duterte expressed that Cebu has the highest
number of drug dependency rates in the Philippines. With the current war on drugs, thousands have voluntarily
surrendered to the government for rehabilitation. Existing rehabilitation centers can no longer
accommodate patients who wish to avail treatment services in public facilities. Hence, the government turns to the private sector, the
civil society organizations and the barangays to create community-based drug
rehabilitation and recovery programs which consider intensive phase, relapse
prevention and skills training for alternative economic opportunities.
Drug rehabilitation is a complex program that many do
not understand. Patients need to be treated holistically. Healthcare providers can determine which
patients would qualify for a community-based rehabilitation program. With community support, healthcare providers
can manage and follow up patients and de-load the need to institutionalize. There would be a combination of psychological
counselling, pharmacotherapy, family development, skills training, and
increased advocacy campaigns to improve awareness on drug rehabilitation. We therefore ask the question: what can we do
in our own personal capacity to help rehabilitate and reintegrate these drug
dependents into our community?
On June 2017, the Central Visayas Consortium for
Health Research and Development will be having its innovation conference and
one of the plenary lectures will be on community-based recovery programs, and
we’d like to call for collaborators on researches that need to be done on this
topic to find solutions to this multi-faceted emerging health issue. We hope that we can discuss this topic
academically to find solutions to this very relevant problem.
T1. In your
view, what is the impact of drug dependence on your community’s health?
T2. What would be the components of a successful
community-based drug recovery program?
T3. What is the
role of social media in solving drug dependency problems?
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