This week I shall finish work and prepare to fly to Africa, returning beginning June. I’m taking some time to travel to Zimbabwe to work with a project that’s trying to build addiction treatment services.
In the UK we frequently bemoan poor funding, ineffective commissioning, waiting lists etc. In Zimbabwe they have no support for those struggling with addictive disorders, drugs, alcohol etc. When I say they have no, I mean, NO services. No needle exchange, no harm minimisation services, no drop-in services, no day care, no residential treatment, nothing, nada.
I’m working with an organisation called Tiritose. We aren’t planning a “destination” rehab. We are planning to develop and build meaningful abstinent based treatment programmes for the communities living with this epidemic.
According to research undertaken by the Health Professional Empowerment Trust in Zimbabwe, 50% of admissions to mental institutions have been attributed to substance misuse. Over 80% of people admitted to mental institutions due to substance misuse disorders are aged 14-40yrs and most of these are male.
So, we aren’t thinking we can solve this issue, however what we can do is make a start to building a recovery community, to demonstrate that recovery is possible and that treatment works.
We’ll be looking at a building with a view to it being used as a residential service. We will be making the necessary plans for resources, including personnel, revenue and legislation to make this service self sustaining and a relevant resource.
Later this year or early 2017, I will be returning to Zimbabwe to put these plans into action.
Are you interested in helping this project?
