The long winding road of opioid substitution therapy implementation in South-East Asia: challenges to scale up
The South-East Asia Region contains an estimated 400,000-500,000 people who inject drugs (PWID). HIV prevalence among PWID is commonly 20% or higher in Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar and some regions of India. Opioid substitution therapy (OST) is an important HIV prevention intervention in this part o...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2014-03-01
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| Series: | Journal of Public Health Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.jphres.org/index.php/jphres/article/view/204 |
| _version_ | 1797965602248196096 |
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| author | Gary Reid Mukta Sharma Peter Higgs |
| author_facet | Gary Reid Mukta Sharma Peter Higgs |
| author_sort | Gary Reid |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The South-East Asia Region contains an estimated 400,000-500,000 people who inject drugs (PWID). HIV prevalence among PWID is commonly 20% or higher in Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar and some regions of India. Opioid substitution therapy (OST) is an important HIV prevention intervention in this part of the world. However, key challenges and barriers to scale up of OST exist, including: pervasive stigma and discrimination towards PWID; criminalisation of drug use overshadowing a public health response; lack of political will and national commitment; low financial investment; focus towards traditional treatment models of detoxification and rehabilitation; inadequate dosing of OST; and poor monitoring and evaluation of programmes. Our review of local evidence highlights that OST can be successful within the Asian context. Such evidence should be utilised more widely to advocate for policy change and increased political commitment to ensure OST reaches substantially more drug users. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T02:02:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2089d119a93e4bbebf4464d7bedb1957 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2279-9028 2279-9036 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T02:02:37Z |
| publishDate | 2014-03-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Public Health Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-2089d119a93e4bbebf4464d7bedb19572023-01-03T03:45:35ZengSAGE PublishingJournal of Public Health Research2279-90282279-90362014-03-013110.4081/jphr.2014.20476The long winding road of opioid substitution therapy implementation in South-East Asia: challenges to scale upGary Reid0Mukta Sharma1Peter Higgs2Independent Consultant HIV/AIDS, New DelhiWorld Health Organization, Thailand Country Office, NonthaburiNational Drug Research Institute, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University; Burnet Institute, MelbourneThe South-East Asia Region contains an estimated 400,000-500,000 people who inject drugs (PWID). HIV prevalence among PWID is commonly 20% or higher in Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar and some regions of India. Opioid substitution therapy (OST) is an important HIV prevention intervention in this part of the world. However, key challenges and barriers to scale up of OST exist, including: pervasive stigma and discrimination towards PWID; criminalisation of drug use overshadowing a public health response; lack of political will and national commitment; low financial investment; focus towards traditional treatment models of detoxification and rehabilitation; inadequate dosing of OST; and poor monitoring and evaluation of programmes. Our review of local evidence highlights that OST can be successful within the Asian context. Such evidence should be utilised more widely to advocate for policy change and increased political commitment to ensure OST reaches substantially more drug users.http://www.jphres.org/index.php/jphres/article/view/204methadone, Southeastern Asia, illicit drugs, policy |
| spellingShingle | Gary Reid Mukta Sharma Peter Higgs The long winding road of opioid substitution therapy implementation in South-East Asia: challenges to scale up Journal of Public Health Research methadone, Southeastern Asia, illicit drugs, policy |
| title | The long winding road of opioid substitution therapy implementation in South-East Asia: challenges to scale up |
| title_full | The long winding road of opioid substitution therapy implementation in South-East Asia: challenges to scale up |
| title_fullStr | The long winding road of opioid substitution therapy implementation in South-East Asia: challenges to scale up |
| title_full_unstemmed | The long winding road of opioid substitution therapy implementation in South-East Asia: challenges to scale up |
| title_short | The long winding road of opioid substitution therapy implementation in South-East Asia: challenges to scale up |
| title_sort | long winding road of opioid substitution therapy implementation in south east asia challenges to scale up |
| topic | methadone, Southeastern Asia, illicit drugs, policy |
| url | http://www.jphres.org/index.php/jphres/article/view/204 |
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