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Opioid Substitution Therapy |
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Thursday, 13 December 2007 |
Studies and statistics have proven that the effectiveness of therapy or the detoxification process is relatively low, because a quite huge number of drug addicts will be exposed to relapses after about five years of time. On the other hand treatment with Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) (example: Methadone and other opiumian substances used in Medicine) helps drug addicts to persist on therapy for a longer period of time.
The OST reduces the percentage of drug injections usually performed by drug addicts, because most of the substances used for OST are not prepared in the form of injections and are prescribed under the supervision of a specialized physician.
The OST helps drug addicts by reducing the percentage use of injected substances, and sharing needles and instruments among them. Consequently it reduces the percentage of getting infected with HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). Furthermore, these programs help drug addicts through awareness about the principles of harm reduction and prevention.
It is known that the OST is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Council, and the international organizations as a basic strategy of prevention for IV drug users from getting infected with HIV.
Thus, OST is available in most of the countries (USA, and a huge part of Europe). But unfortunately, in most of the Middle Eastern and North African countries; that is the MENA region it is currently not available and its use is forbidden by the legal authorities.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 21 February 2008 )
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Opiate Substitution Therapy- A Comprehensive Approach |
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Wednesday, 20 May 2009 |
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In its strategic planning, the MoPH in cooperation and in partnership with NAP established a task force to put a comprehensive system for OST in Lebanon. The objective of this task force is to gather the Lebanese experience in treating drug addiction by involving psychiatrist, health care providers and non-governmental organizations to come up with a set of recommendations and guidelines to establish OST service taking the Lebanese context into consideration and adopting the best international practices. |
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Methadone medical facts from Drugs.com |
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Tuesday, 17 February 2009 |
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What is methadone?
Methadone is a narcotic pain reliever, similar to morphine. Methadone also reduces withdrawal symptoms in people addicted to heroin or other narcotic drugs without causing the "high" associated with the drug addiction. Methadone is used as a pain reliever and as part of drug addiction detoxification and maintenance programs.
To read more, please follow this URL link:
http://www.drugs.com/mtm/methadone.html |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 17 February 2009 )
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UN Special Rapporteur on torture calls upon the Human Rights Council |
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Wednesday, 11 February 2009 |
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In 2008, Anand Grover was appointed as UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health. He has kindly contribued a Foreward to IHRA's most recent publication,'Harm Reduction and Human Rights: The Global Response to Drug-Related HIV Epidemics', which was released in January. In the Foreward (reprinted below), the Special Rapporteur makes a strong call for States to implement harm reduction as a matter of urgency.
To read the entire article, please follow this URL link:
http://www.ihrablog.net/2009/02/un-special-rapporteur-on-right-to.html |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 11 February 2009 )
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New Resource: Opioid Substitution Treatment in Custodial Settings |
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Monday, 28 July 2008 |
This practical guide has been written by Andrej Kastelic and his colleagues to support prison doctors, contracted doctors, prison health-care workers, prison administrators, NGOs and others in delivering and supporting substitution treatment and harm reduction for opioid dependent prisoners. The guide states that drug dependence must be treated as a severe disease and that everyone has a part to play to ensure the best treatment for prisoners and also to ensure that drug related harm is kept as low as possible.
To read the full story, please click here. |
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Fisrt Internatinal French colloque on Opiates Treatment |
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Friday, 18 July 2008 |
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To read the entire newsletter, please visit the french section. |
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Opioid Substitution Treatment: a practical guide |
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Tuesday, 10 June 2008 |
This practical guide on “Opioid Substitution Treatment in Custodial Settings” is to support prison doctors, contracted doctors, prison health care workers, prison administration, NGOs and others in delivering or supporting
substitution treatment to opioid dependent prisoners.
Drug dependence has to be treated as a severe disease and everyone has a part to play to ensure the best treatment for prisoners and also to ensure that drug related harm is kept as low as possible. Applying the recommendations in this guide will contribute to a healthier prison for prisoners with drug dependence with satisfying roles for staff members and a marked reduction
in the harm that drug use in prisons can create.
To read the whole document, please click here.
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Opiates Substitution Therapy Regional Workshop |
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Friday, 06 June 2008 |
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The Regional Workshop on “Opiates Substitution Therapy” is the second workshop among a series of workshops organized by KH-SIDC as part of the project titled “Strengthening Civil Society’s Role in Delivering Harm Reduction Services in the Middle East and North Africa”; that was launched a year ago to cover the Middle East and North African countries, and is supported by the WHO/EMRO and IHRA and funded by Drosos Foundation (Swiss NGO). |
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Opiates Substitution Therapy 
