The government is preparing to trial a medically-assisted treatment programme to help heroin users who want to quit the drug – this after long resisting the approach in favour of drug-free rehab programmes that have yielded low success rates, writes Jesse Copelyn for GroundUp.
In July, the National Department of Health (NDoH) requested bids to run a pilot programme to provide opioid agonist therapy (OAT) to heroin users. OAT is a form of treatment in which people who are quitting the drug (or reducing their intake) are provided with opioid agonists.
The OAT blocks the painful withdrawal symptoms.
The department has until February 2025 to appoint a service provider to manage the pilot, which will run for 20 months. It’s supposed to operate at two primary healthcare facilities – one in Emalahleni in Mpumalanga and another in Madibeng in the North West, both chosen as they reportedly include a “high number of people” who use heroin…..more