Dr. Idrice Goomany Centre for the Prevention and Treatment of Alcoholism and Drug Addiction.

1986

Mauritius was in the throes of an acute drug epidemic. "Brown Sugar", an adulterated form of heroin, was creating havoc among our young urban male population. Confronted with this reality and in the absence of any specialized structure to respond to the particular needs of the substance abusers, a group of young doctors and social workers decided to join hands to set up the first non-governmental organization (NGO) prevention and treatment centre in the country to address this issue in a holistic and comprehensive way.

Equipped with an abundance of goodwill and a firm belief that many substance abusers can alter their destructive behaviour provided they are offered an approach consistent with the local socio-cultural and economic contexts, a multidisciplinary team started to provide free basic counselling, medical detoxification and after-care services to a number of young addicts. While we were inspired by a number of foreign, well-established therapeutic approaches, we were also very keen to develop a "Mauritian model" in the management of substance abuse.

This model rests essentially on an out-patient, multidisciplinary approach that relies on the support of the family and the synergistic energy of a small team of full-time staff and volunteers. The important ingredients that explain our success are our strong faith in man whatever his stage of dependency, our dedication and selflessness in the effort, a professional approach to voluntary work, a quest to constantly upgrade our knowledge base and keep abreast of the latest techniques in the field, and an active community participation.

1991

Within five years, this small community effort, which began operating on the premises of a pre-primary school, had matured into a larger team, based in a functional building put at our disposal by a collaboration between the central Government and local authorities. Our NGO status allowed us the necessary flexibility and freedom to fine tune our services in order to respond to change. By then, the substance abuse phenomenon was afflicting a larger age bracket, people living in rural areas, as well as an increasing number of women.

Apart from our treatment service and general prevention programmes, we also started a primary prevention project focusing on male out-of-school youth. The Teen Hope Project, launched in 1992, aims to provide a safe and healthy environment and promote a healthy lifestyle among young boys, aged 13 to 16, living in high-risk areas. The programme, now in its sixth year, consists of functional education, sports, life skills development, community service and job placement.

Three separate evaluations of our treatment programme indicate that about 35 to 40 per cent of our clients are getting better. This means they are no longer indulging in drug consumption, they are leading a stable professional and familial life, and they are not turning to illegal activities.

1998

The pattern and profile of drug abuse in Mauritius have evolved once again. Today, more and more young people are beginning to use illicit drugs at an earlier age. Nor are our schools immune to the problem. Also, most substance abusers are now injecting drugs, thereby increasing the risks of contracting acquired immunodeficiency syndrome/human immunodeficiency virus (AIDS/HIV).

We have developed several training modules to provide the necessary know-how and skills to carefully selected groups of motivated women and young people that will let them identify early signs of substance use among their peers and refer them to our Centre.

Regional/international Cooperation

We have been working very closely with the International Council on Alcohol and Addictions (ICAA) for the past ten years, a collaboration which has ensured a regular exchange of information and knowledge. We have also acted as faculty member for the ICAA for training courses organized in collaboration with the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP). We were invited to the World NGO Forum in Bangkok, organized in December 1994 by UNDCE Our initiative to set up an African NGO Network during the Forum received the backing of the UNDCP Nairobi office. We have also benefited from two small grants from UNDCP to set up a Regional Information Resource Centre on Drugs and Alcohol, and to carry out a small study on the prevalence of AIDS/HIV among drug abusers. The World Health Organization (WHO) partly sponsored our 10th year commemorative magazine in 1996, which highlighted a number of community initiatives around the world addressing drug and alcohol problems.

On a regional basis, we collaborate with a number of institutions and have embarked on an interesting epidemiological surveillance project with the Medical Research Council in South Africa. We are expected to have an input in the Global Initiative for Primary Prevention of Substance Abuse. This is a joint WHO/UNDCP project, in collaboration with the International Consortium on Substance Abuse Prevention (ICSAP). ICSAP is composed of ICAA (Switzerland), the International Organization of Good Templars (Sweden), the Parents Resource Institute for Drug Education, Inc. (United States), the International Federation of Non-Governmental Organizations for Prevention of Drug and Substance Abuse (Malaysia), the World Federation of Mental Health and Worldview International Foundation (Thailand).

The United States Information Service has also provided us with valuable help during the past ten years. Three of our doctors have received post-graduate training in public health and substance abuse under a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, United States.

The Special Session

The United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Countering the World Drug Problem, which will be held in New York from 8 to 10 June 1998, symbolizes the commitment of the United Nations and the international community to make substance abuse a high priority agenda item. But it also acknowledges that, in spite of all the efforts and the resources allotted to fight this scourge, the challenge is as formidable as ever. As the UN-decreed "Decade against Drugs" draws to an end, it will be important for the United Nations to assess its strategy and actions during the past decade and to devise new ones to respond efficiently to this multi-headed monster.

The Special Session should also take stock of regional and national strategies, and urge Governments to allocate reasonable resources to this fight. It is finally my earnest wish that the Special Session acknowledges the important contribution of international and local NGOs worldwide, especially in the field of drug demand reduction, and undertakes to forge bridges and partnerships with them and with communities worldwide to limit the harm caused by this manmade social poison.

As we move towards the next millennium, I can only hope that the United Nations and its specialized agencies will be given the necessary resources to carry out their mission. I dream for the emergence of more Ted Turners, whose combination of flamboyance and altruism may prove to be the perfect instrument to assist the United Nations in sending a strong and clear message to communities across the world of its resolve to deal concretely with the use and abuse of illicit narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

Fact: An Organization of African Unity plan of action, adopted in 1996, reaffirms the commitment of over 50 member States for proactive and targeted drug control measures and includes concrete measures to be taken.