Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, January 28

A compilation of reports on Injecting Drug Users (IDU) shows that harm reduction programmes being run by the government have had poor results despite wide publicity and lots of money spent on those. Technical officer at the Family Health International Dr Laxmi Bilas Acharya noted that in a seven-day observance period, percentage of IDUs reusing either the syringe or needle is 87 per cent in Kathmandu, 52 per cent in Pokhara and 64 per cent in eastern Terai. His report was based on studies by CREHPA and New ERA in 2002-2003. He pointed out that 68 per cent IDUs have been infected with HIV in Kathmandu, 22 per cent in Pokhara and 35.1 per cent in eastern Terai. State Minister for Health, Dr Banshidhar Mishra, admitted the poor results but said an integrated approach would be applied in future with more attention given to controlling cross-border activities in drug abuse.

In Jhapa, Dharan and Biratnagar, Indian border towns are major sources of drugs, IDUs use reuse syringes many times, cleaning of used injecting equ-ipment is inadequate, IDUs engage in risky sexual behaviour, have multiple sex partners and condom use by them is negligible and inconsistent. Most IUDs in eastern Nepal inject more than once a day and 85 per cent have been IDUs in different parts of Nepal and India.