ICOS NEWS RELEASE
1 DECEMBER 2005
Think tank warns of HIV/AIDS time bomb in Afghanistan
Addiction Treatment Advocacy Initiative launched for Afghan drug users
“Drug users must not be marginalised if AIDS threat is to be avoided,”
Red Cross Doctor says
KABUL – ICOS, an international drug policy think tank, warned on World AIDS Day that HIV/AIDS could spread into an uncontrollable epidemic if Afghanistan does not provide urgent treatment programmes for the growing number of injecting drug users in the country.
“Afghanistan is sitting on a ticking HIV time bomb,” said Emmanuel Reinert, Executive Director of ICOS, speaking from Kabul.
The Council said that with nearly one million drug users in Afghanistan – about 7,000 of whom inject drugs – but with few treatment facilities, all the ingredients are present in Afghanistan for a potential HIV epidemic. But the virus can still be contained if the right measures are taken now.
“It will be too late if we let an epidemic take root before taking action,” said Reinert. “We can prevent it if we move now – before it starts.”
Injecting drugs is one of the main causes of the spread of HIV/AIDS in the region through the sharing of contaminated needles. The virus is then spread into the wider community through sexual relations, often fuelled by an overlap between injecting drug use and commercial sex.
According to the latest UNAIDS Report, Epidemic Update 2005, many of Afghanistan’s closest neighbours have alarmingly high rates of HIV prevalence originating from drug use – in Russia, for example, over 80% of registered HIV cases are found in injecting drug users; in China, 43%. Neighbouring Uzbekistan has experienced a 200-fold increase in HIV cases in the last five years.
In many countries in the region, drug users have been given little or no access to simple treatment facilities which can save lives – one of the reasons why the prevalence of the virus has risen so high.
“The same mistakes must not be repeated in Afghanistan,” said Dr Massimo Barra, Chairman of the Development Commission of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. “Simple measures, such as clean needle exchange and substitution treatment, are effective ways with which to fight the spread of this terrible disease.”
Many Afghans start injecting heroin for the first time as refugees in Pakistan and Iran, where this method of administration is common. They are now returning to their homeland and could be infected with the virus without being aware of it.
“A treatment and prevention campaign is urgently needed to help and advise drug users if Afghanistan is to thwart this looming threat in time,” Dr Barra continued. “Drug users must not be socially marginalised.”
To provide support for and information on effective drug addiction treatment programmes, ICOS is launching an Addiction Treatment Advocacy Initiative at the Kabul Symposium on Addiction Treatment: Responding to the Drug Crisis in Afghanistan, to be held on Saturday 3 December in Kabul.
“Innovative solutions are already being used in Europe,” said Reinert. “Over the past 20 years European countries have developed pragmatic and effective responses to their drug problems. The international community must assist Afghanistan to develop similar responses if a major HIV crisis is to be avoided.”
The Symposium will aim to generate an informed debate on measures to address the links between drug use and health in Afghanistan.
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