Methadone treatment for drug addicts has proved effective in reducing HIV/AID infections in the central province of Thanh Hoa, which houses six methadone-treatment centres with more than 800 patients.
Drug users receive methadone at a centre (Photo: VNA)
The obvious effect of this therapy is the considerable improvement in the physical and mental health of drug users, according to the Thanh Hoa HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Centre. It reported that 74 percent of patients have reduced their dependence either partly or all together, while 70 percent have gained weight to a healthier level after three months of treatment.
In a foreseeable future, the province plans to open another methadone-treatment clinic in Dong Son district.
Local authorities are aiming at a wider deployment of the method to treat 2,000 heroin addicts by 2015, after three years successfully undertaking the methadone treatment programme – which was first launched in Vietnam in 2008.
Vietnam has to date recorded 170,000 drug users, 14,000 of whom have undergone methadone treatment in 61 specialised clinics nationwide within the 2008-2013 programme, according to the HIV/AIDS Prevention Department of the Health Ministry.
After a two-year treatment course, only 14 percent of the patients still use drugs, 2 percent still clash with their family and a mere 1 percent still break the law. In contrast, nearly 76 percent of them have been employed.
This treatment has also proved economical, as its daily cost is about 15,000 VND (0.7 USD) per person in Vietnam.
The programme has set out to provide this drug replacement therapy to 80,000 addicts across the nation by 2015.-VNA
Thanh Hoa spreads methadone therapy Related image(s)
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