Battling drug addiction during Covid-19 pandemic in Mombasa

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• Under the MAT programme, individuals who were injecting hard drugs such as heroin are given daily dosage of methadone to help them fight addiction.

• Methadone has the same effect and feeling as heroin, but it keeps drug addicts away from having withdrawal symptoms and cravings. It slowly kills the addiction.

Abdhalla Said, a youth from Mombasa, suffered heroin drug addiction for seven years before he was admitted to the Medically Assisted Therapy drug rehabilitation programme at the Reachout Centre Trust.

For the last three years, Said has been taking daily dosage of Methadone as a replacement of the heroin at Frere Town area MAT centre.

Under the MAT programme, individuals who were injecting hard drugs such as heroin are given daily dosage of methadone to help them fight addiction.

Methadone has the same effect and feeling as heroin, but it keeps drug addicts away from having withdrawal symptoms and cravings. It slowly kills the addiction.

Health experts say methadone, which is part of drug category called opioids, was first created during the World War II by German doctors to treat extreme pain.

In treating drug addiction, it blocks the high feeling from drugs such as codeine, heroin and morphine.

CESSATION OF MOVEMENT EFFECT ON RECOVERING ADDICTS

Said, who lives in Old Town area, was forced to cut his daily supply of methadone after the national government declared a cessation of movement in and out of Old Town area on May 6, following a spike of Covid-19 cases in the area.

“I live in Old Town area but used to go and take my Methadone dose in Frere Town in Kisauni. The order on cessation of movement was a big blow to us,” he says.

He adds that he had look for an alternative area to take his daily methadone dosage, lest he relapses and goes back to injecting drugs to satisfy the cravings.

Within Old Town area, there is Reachout Centre Trust, a drug rehabilitation institution that deals with narcotics addiction recovery for over the last 15 years.

The organisation has over 3,000 recovering injective drugs users under its programmes.

“I now come here daily to take my daily methadone dose. For the past one month, I have been coming here religiously to take my medicine” explains Said.

Reachout Centre Trust executive director Taib Abdulrahman says they have encountered various challenges following the cessation of movement order.

“Our main offices are located in Old Town area. We have drug users from Likoni, Kisauni, Changamwe, Mvita and Nyali, who come to take their dose from here,” Abdulrahman says.

As a result, he says, addicts from outside Old Town cannot access their offices now.

“We had to make sure that all our beneficiaries do not lose out on their daily dosage. We opened up satellite dropping centres in Likoni and Majengo in Mvita,” he adds.

"Addicts in Likoni area now do not have to cross the ferry to come to town. They can get their daily dosage from within their locality. For the addicts in Mvita area, they can also access our dropping centres in Majengo.”

The Frere Town dropping centre is serving thousands of addicts within Kisauni and Nyali area, says Abdurahman.

They have also been given a vehicle from the Kenya Red Cross that goes round to check on the addicts within their locality under the MET programme in Nyali and Kisauni.

Abdulrahman says they are working with the National Campaign Against Drug Abuse centre at Miritini National Youth Service to serve addicts from Jomvu and Changamwe.

At the Reachout Centre Trust main facility in Old Town, there about 100 drug users, who are also on MET programme.

“They come here daily for their dosage. We have put measures in place to ensure they maintain social distance, put on face masks and observe hygiene,” the Reachout Centre Trust boss says.

ENSURING RECOVERING ADDICTS ADHERE TO COVID-19 REGULATIONS

Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir installed a disinfection booth at the main door to the centre to help curb the spread of coronavirus.

“During the counselling sessions, we do not admit more that 15 in a class. We also ensure they observe the 1.5 metre social distance,”Abdulrahman says.

Old Town area is still heavily affected by Covid-19 infections and deaths in Mombasa county.

Due to the threat of the virus, Reachout Centre Trust says they have been forced to ensure all drug users observe government regulations at their main facility and the satellite dropping centres.

Despite the high cases of Covid-19 within Old Town, no single drug user has contacted the virus.

“We had a case of one of our beneficiaries who was in contact with a Covid-19 patient. We had to place him under quarantine within and after 21 days, he was still negative,” Abdulrahman says.

He says during the 21-day quarantine, they did not stop the daily supply of methadone to the drug user’s place.

He was quarantined in one of the family homes within Old Town.

“We ensured that there is no contact between him and our officers and volunteers. We used to send him his daily dose well-packaged and drop and his place,” he says.

CUSHIONING THE RECOVERING DRUG ADDICTS

Mombasa county's Health department has also been working closely with Reachout Centre Trust to test the drug users for Covid-19 and other diseases.

According to Abdulrahman, there is quite a number of drug addicts who are HIV positive, while others are suffering from hepatitis B and other contagious diseases.

“We have been working with the public health department to ensure they do not miss on their HIV or Hepatitis B medication, plus methadone dose,” he explains.

To cushion some of the drug addicts who were looking for employment outside Old Town, the national government has absorbed some in the Kazi Kwa Vijana progamme.

The Mombasa county government has also been supplying food to the households within Old Town during the one month lockdown of the area.

During the start of the Holy Month of Ramadhan, the Mombasa government came up with a project to ensure recovering drug users get methadone medicatio uninterrupted.

The department of Health Services through the Kisauni MAT clinic put in place a plan to cater for clients in the evenings after breaking the fast.

“With the guidance and support from Medical Services chief officer Dr Khadija Shikely, MAT clinic coordinator Dr Mahad Hassan and Dr Abdulnoor Ismail, we have been able to set up procedures to ensure methadone dispensation is executed in a manner that will not disrupt the clients’ spiritual obligation during the Holy Month of Ramadhan,” Mombasa county government said in a statement.

During the evening set up, Kisauni MAT clinic clients got an opportunity to break their fast, have a congregational prayer and share a meal before getting their dose of methadone for the day.