NCJ Number
171386
Journal
Substance Use & Misuse Volume: 33 Issue: 5 Dated: special issue (1998) Pages: 1069-1074
Date Published
1998
Length
6 pages
Annotation
In August 1991, the Lifesaving and Lifegiving Society (LALS) became the first nongovernmental organization in Nepal to work with intravenous drug users (IDUs) to reduce the harm caused by drugs and to prevent AIDS.
Abstract
The mission of LALS is to provide education, counseling, and primary health care to IDUs, as well as bleach, sterile water, condoms, and new needles and syringes, to lower their risk of acquiring blood-borne diseases. LALS uses community health outreach workers and focuses not only on IDUs and their sexual partners but also on families and communities. Networking and referral services are key components of the LALS harm reduction program. An evaluation of the program determined the prevalence of HIV infection among IDUs who were in regular contact with the program was 1.6 percent between 1991 and 1994. No new cases of HIV infection were detected among program participants in either 1993 or 1994. Although a harm reduction program is expensive to implement and sustain in Nepal, LALS has involved drug users in recovery and has given them a way of addressing their concerns in a public forum. 2 photographs