The secretary general of the prefecture of Bouaké, Francis Katou Bony, proceeded on Thursday June 17, 2021 to the official launch of the activities of the “Ya pas Drap” project, in the presence of the health authorities and several stakeholders of civil society in Bouaké.

This project, led by the medical NGO Médecins du Monde, aims to provide adapted and accessible health care to people who use precarious drugs. “Through this project, we are implementing the intervention models developed over the past six years in Abidjan, which consists of reaching out to drug-using populations, in particular, in smoking rooms, to provide them with care,” said the head of the department. project, N’dri Claude Arsène.

The NGO Enda-Santé was appointed to ensure the implementation of the project at the level of the city of Bouaké. It will be responsible for putting in place strategies to enable drug-using populations to be able to attend traditional health centers to benefit from health care.

A study conducted in 2014 by Médecins du Monde in Abidjan among 450 regular users of cocaine, heroin and crack shows that drug users are populations vulnerable to infectious diseases due to their risky sexual practices, drugs, but also their extremely precarious living conditions.

“The HIV / AIDS drug user prevalence rate is 5.4%, twice the national rate. Their tuberculosis prevalence rate is 9.8%, which is 50 times the national rate. This is proof that this very vulnerable population, ”said the Médecins du Monde project manager.

This situation led Médecins du Monde to set up the “Ya pas Drap” project with a view to carrying out, in collaboration with partner humanitarian associations, prevention and risk reduction actions (DR) among drug users in Abidjan. in order to improve their care by the health system.

This medical organization works to strengthen the capacity of these humanitarian actors to act in order to develop appropriate responses and combat the stigmatization and exclusion which constitute barriers to access to healthcare for drug users. This project, which is now in its third phase, is being extended to the towns of San Pédro and Bouaké.

Source: Agence Ivoirienne de Presse