Guest guest Posted July 2, 2006 Report Share Posted July 2, 2006 Dear Forum, The Centre for Social Research and Development (CSRD), the first and the only NGO in Kerala carrying out the Needle and Syringe Program (NSP) for the Injecting Drug Users (IDU)has resumed it after a gap of over an year. It was exactly 3 years ago when CSRD initiated the first IDU project of Kerala with the financial support of Kerala State AIDS Control Society (KSACS). However, after one year of implementation the project, CSRD had to suspend the NSP component from its activities due to an ‘administrative order’ from the District Collector. Which has ensued several unavoidable over doze death and concomitant law and order problems which occurred in the vicinity of its Drop in Centre (DIC) in a slum area in the periphery of Kozikode city (Calicut) known as “Bangladesh Colony’, where about hundred IDUs used to drop in every day to utilize the NSP services. Although, the NSP component of the project was suspended the out reach project continued with all other activities including referrals for voluntary detoxifications. During the one year absence of the NSP, though the project struggled to make the clean syringe needles available from few sympathetic medical shops it was not always successful. The impact of the absence of the NSP become evident from the results of the second sentinel survey which recorded a doubling of HIV prevalence among the IDU population of Calicut. Baseline prevalence was 2.58% (N=145) and the latest was 5.2% (N=231) In response to such public health urgency, despite the existing objections from various quarters, including the local administrators CSRD has re-launched NSP. As a strategy shift, instead of doing the NSP at a visible fixed location of a Drop In Centre as earlier, currently, we are implementing it through various mobile outlets- to maintain the client confidentiality. We would like to hear about the experiences of implementing NSPs in small towns in India. In solidarity Tito Director CSRD, Calicut. Kerala e-mail: csrd@... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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