DUSHANBE, October 3, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan’s National Coordination Center to Fight AIDS/HIV, TB and Malaria has decided to set up a working group to study introduction of replacement therapy for treating injecting drug users with further establishment of pilot points for introduction of the replacement therapy.
The Center executive secretary Amonullo Ghoib, who heads this group, said that the group members include representatives from the ministries of education, health, labor, justice, as well as committee for women’s affairs, counternarcotics agency and international organizations active in Tajikistan, including the World Health Organization (WHO).
“The group aims to study methods of the replacement therapy; besides, we should assess efficiency and safety of introduction of it for treating drug addicts,” the executive secretary said.
He also pointed to the necessity of studying experience of neighboring countries, in particular Kyrgyzstan, in treating drug addicts with replacement therapy
Most addiction treatments are designed to do more than simply reduce or remove drug use – they focus on getting addicted people to change their lifestyle and even their core life values as a way of preventing return of the problems. Like treatments for other conditions, addiction treatments can also include medications and forms of talk therapy, but addiction treatments may be provided by a much wider range of personnel (clergy, counselors, social workers, physicians) than most other forms of healthcare.
