Nairobi Woman Rep Esther Passaris has probed the health sector in its quest to avail Medical Assisted Therapy (MAT), on her Portugal expedition.
Pasaris is set out to attend the Harm Reduction Conference 2019, upon which she posed, “Kenya has made strides in implementing MAT clinics for drug users but more needs to be done.”
MAT forms part of health assessment plan, that identifies the specific needs of a person and how those needs will be addressed by the healthcare system or skilled nursing facility.
MAT clinics use methadone, in combination with other support strategies, to reduce the severity of withdrawal symptoms associated with drug cessation and increasing Patients With Injected Drugs’ (PWID) likelihood of a successful recovery.
Without which, the recovering addict loses the ability of simply being able to sleep, have an appetite, gain weight, and, most importantly, rebuild trust with family and friends.
This, even as injection drug use has been shown to contribute significantly to HIV transmission globally, and in Kenya. HIV prevalence among people who use drugs in Kenya is 18.3% and there are an estimated 1,000 PWIDs in the Nyanza region of Kenya, an area where prevention efforts have ramped up due to the high HIV prevalence rate.