Mr. Lugard Abila of Reach Out Centre making a presentation on challenges faced by CSOs dealing with Harm Reduction Picture By: KELIN/Ted Wandera
Eighteen senior program officers from five civil society organizations dealing with provision of harm reduction services successfully concluded a three day training on HIV, human rights, the law and harm reduction, on 11 November, 2014 in Mombasa County. The officers were from the Muslim Education and Welfare Association (MEWA), Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI), Nairobi Outreach Centre (NOSET), Omari Project and Reach Out Pwani. They were representative of the counties of Kilifi, Kwale, Mombasa and Nairobi.
The three-day training was aimed at strengthening the capacities of the senior programme officers on the legal framework surrounding provision of harm reduction as well as protection of the rights of Persons who use Drugs (PWUD) in line with the provisions of the Constitution of Kenya 2010. The meeting came a week before the government’s plan to roll out provision of Medication Assisted Therapy as one of the nine components of harm reduction services, by providing methadone to persons who inject drugs.
Convened by KELIN in partnership with the Open Society Foundation, the meeting was part of efforts to identify both legal and policy issues that hinder the provision of harm reduction services to PWUD and are living with HIV. The meeting comprehensively examined the legal framework both problematic and supportive to the provision of harm reduction services. The participants had a chance to interact with senior law enforcement officers from the Kenya Police Service and the Kenya Prisons Service.
The training also discussed the constitutional provisions and their relevance to rights of PWUD’s in Kenya, health as a devolved function, and legal and ethical issues relating to HIV with a link to IDUs and harm reduction services.
At the end of the training, the participants developed a plan of action that identified and prioritized the key activities they wanted to work on in the year 2015, as individual organisations and through the Kenya Harm Reduction Network to help remove the legal and policy barriers that affect the provision of harm reduction services.
“This training was an eye opener. I did not know how the functions of the devolved government relate to the provision of health services. There is need to work closely with the county government since in the long run they will be the main financers of Medication Assisted Therapy (MAT). Members of the county assembly have to factor in provisions for MAT into the county health budget.” These were the words of Mr. Cosmus Maina, Director of Teens Watch at the end of the training.
You can also follow KELIN on our Social Media Platforms for the latest news, jobs, updates, videos, info, events and much more here;
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KELINKenya #Justice2Health
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kelinkenya
