New harm reduction body against drug abuse launched |10 May 2018

 A national peer-based organisation - Drug Utilisation Respond Network Seychelles - that seeks to promote the health and defend the rights of people who use drugs, was launched on Tuesday in a harm reduction workshop for Indian Ocean and East African countries.

The workshop was held at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Resort & Casino under the theme ‘Creating Dialogue to Sustain Harm Reduction in Seychelles’.

Drug Utilisation Respond Network Seychelles (Durns) is the creation of HIV & Aids Support Organisation (Haso) aimed at harm reduction in order to effectively tackle HIV and the transmission of other blood-borne diseases.  With some forty plus active members who used to use drugs, some still on drugs, some on treatment and with the support of representatives from different stakeholders, Durns will be in the forefront of outreach activities of empowerment and advocacy at all levels at any available forums from the individual community, regional and national levels.

This will be through the promotion of the health and dignity of individuals and communities impacted by drug use by advancing harm reduction policies, practices and programmes that address the adverse effects of drug use including overdose, HIV, Hepatitis C, addiction and incarceration.

It is a first such harm reduction network organisation in Seychelles and it will be coordinated by Fady Banane, a former drug user. He and others in the network will be out on the field to educate drug users on how to protection themselves against HIV/Aids and other diseases related to drug use, especially transmitted through the sharing of needles.  

“We hope to get the support of the different stakeholders, communities and government so that together we can work to make a difference in harm reduction in Seychelles,” said Mr Banane who noted that they will also be out there to educate the drug dependents to respect the community so as to get back the respect they wish.

Present at the launch ceremony were representatives from the Ministry of Health, employment department, the police, Haso, Citizens Engagement Platform Seychelles (Ceps), Agency for Prevention of Drug Abuse and Rehabilitation (Apdar), other local stakeholders and representatives of national harm reduction networks from Kenya, Burundi, Ethiopia, Zanzibar and Uganda. They, including Seychelles, are among eight countries affiliated to and funded by the Kenyan Aids NGOs Consortium (Kanco), a Kenyan-based harm reduction network. It was represented by its deputy chief executive, Peter Kamau. The other countries include Tanzania and Mauritius which were not present on Tuesday.

In his keynote address, the Secretary of State for Prevention of Drug  Abuse and Rehabilitation, Dr Patrick Herminie, saluted and commended the efforts of those involved in setting up of Durns, as the way forward in the battle against drug is harm reduction or harm minimisation.

He noted that a recent survey commissioned by Apdar revealed worrying signs as 76% of persons who inject drugs are Hepatitis C positive and 13% of them are HIV positive.

“Durns has a primordial role to play and we hope that, in the future, it will be in the forefront  of outreach activities aimed at harm reduction as we aim to provide 200 sterile needles and syringes per drug injector per year, in order to effectively tackle HIV and other blood-borne diseases transmission via this route,” he said.

The workshop held before the launch of Durns was to share knowledge, experiences, success stories and challenges on harm reduction in the different countries.