A section of the participants with the resource person and organizers. (Photo Courtesy: ARK)
Literacy programme on substance use prevention, treatment and co-morbidities held
Kohima, March 4 (MExN): The ARK Foundation conducted a ‘Treatment literacy programme on substance use prevention, treatment and co-morbidities’ on March 4 in partnership with NUN TI Jakhama.
Held in the drop-in centre, Jakhama, the programme was initiated by ARK Foundation with the support of Kohima District Administration, Kohima District Social Welfare through the NISD/MoSJE as part of the nationwide campaign under the Banner of Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (Drug-Free India Campaign).
Ketho Angami, President ARK Foundation, as the resource person spoke about various health concerns pertaining to the lives of drug users and alcoholics with the objective to keep them away from pre-mature deaths and infectious diseases.
Ketho mentioned that substance use has been a social problem for over four decades which has vastly affected not only the individual person but the society at large.
In this regard, he stressed the need for further prevention and also treatment of those who are already into the habit.
He defined various treatment programmes being implemented by various NGOs in the State in partnership with the Government such as OST, detoxification and rehabilitation facilities and urged them to avail those services for a drug-free life.
Ketho also shared about the importance of OST and its benefits as a treatment strategy, drug use in relation to overdose, HIV, TB and Viral Hepatitis, and the prevention, management and treatment of all these diseases.
He also informed that all these services are Government-initiated programmes and can be availed free of cost. However, he lamented about the lack of awareness programmes, access to proper and easy test, diagnosis and treatment.
Ketho also provided some overdose prevention measures and also on how an overdose can be managed and reversed through the administration of the antidote.
On HIV and TB, he mentioned that drug users are susceptible to such diseases due to risk behaviors and immune suppression as a result of drug use. He shared the routes of HIV transmission and modes in which TB is spread, and also the prevention and treatment of these two diseases.
On Viral Hepatitis, he shared the information about the types of Hepatitis and how it is spread. He also shared that Viral Hepatitis-free programme has been rolled out in Nagaland since 2019, and that the service is to be made available in all the district hospitals. In this regard, he encouraged all to get tested and avail the service.
