Regional seminar on treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts under way

A regional seminar on the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts is now under way in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. "The originality [of the seminar] is that there will be broadly presented all the current models of rehabilitating drug addicts," Mirzakhid Sultanov, the regional project coordinator at the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), told IRIN from Tashkent, adding that all theoretical and practical aspects of rehabilitating addicts would be presented. Chief narcologists, heads of the narcology chairs and practising narcologists, as well as psychotherapists of the Central Asian countries - some 40 in all - have gathered for the 10-day meeting which began on Monday. Experts from the USA, Russia and Kazakhstan, as well as a former World Health Organisation official dealing with drug addiction and its treatment are there to provide the local specialists with some training. Drug addiction is becoming a source of concern in Central Asia as a result of illicit drug trafficking originating from Afghanistan, particularly as it is exacerbating the HIV/AIDS situation on the ground. "There is a rise in drug addiction and HIV/AIDS, which is closely related to this phenomenon," Sultanov said, adding that in Central Asia, HIV/AIDS was to a considerable degree related to injecting drug usage. However, the interventions of the national bodies dealing with the issue were mainly focused on harm reduction programmes. "Narcology service with its resources is not coping with the problem of drug addiction and HIV/AIDS [in the region] and its efficiency is very low," Sultanov said, adding that UNODC favoured promoting reforms and the development of more effective narcology agencies in Central Asia, which would be able to control drug addiction and the spread of HIV/AIDS. The seminar is part of a two-year regional project on diversification of HIV/AIDS prevention and drug treatment services worth about US $500,000, aimed at increasing the access of drug addicts to treatment and rehabilitation programmes, as well as increasing the diversity, quality and effectiveness of easily accessible services for addicts. The project also envisages conducting 20-day long seminars on the issue for psychologists and psychotherapists along with providing national drug-addiction treatment bodies in the region with financial assistance and grants.