AFRICAN governments have been urged to support civil society organisations in the fight against drug abuse.
The call was made by health experts during a Harm Reduction exchange 2022 event in Nairobi, Kenya, early this week.
Bernice Apondi, a researcher at Vical Africa, gave a case study of how Kenya had involved civil societies in fighting drug and illegal substance abuse
“Through supporting civil societies in harm reduction, government ensures that people who use drugs have meaningful participation in implementing the programmes. This will also affirm people who use drugs as primary agencies of reducing the harms of their drug use and seeks to empower them to share the information,” Apondi said.
Joseph Magero, a health expert, said thousands were dying every year due to ignorance of the dangers of tobacco and other drugs.
“Thousands of people are dying in Africa due to the ignorance of some African governments. We have several products that can be used to reduce the harm of tobacco by using vaping, snooze and e-cigarettes. Unfortunately, the products are not easily found in Africa and where they are found are expensive,” Magero said.
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Vaping is a method used to stop people from smoking.