HEALTH-MAURITIUS: An Army of Volunteers Fights AIDS, Drugs

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Nasseem Ackbarally

PORT-LOUIS, Jul 22 2004 (IPS) - The tiny Indian Ocean island of Mauritius has assembled an army of volunteers to fight AIDS and drugs that are threatening the country.

The island will soon be covered by these volunteers, according to the National Prevention Unit, a division of the National Agency for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Substance Abusers (NATRESA), based in Port-Louis, Mauritius’s capital.

About 52 percent of the island’s drug addicts and people living with HIV/AIDS live in Cassis, Cite Vallijee, Batterie Cassee, Plaine Verte and Richelieu, all suburbs of Port-Louis, the agency says.

‘’It’s a high-risk area where transmission of HIV is highly correlated with drug use. Just continuing with the usual media campaign will be ineffective,’’ Cadress Rungen of the National Prevention Unit told IPS.

In these suburbs, young people begin to abuse tobacco and alcohol at an early age and then go on to harder drugs. ‘’We are concerned because we have noticed a change in the way HIV/AIDS is being transmitted,’’ Rungen said.

Official figures published in March show a huge increase in the number of AIDS cases transmitted through shared needles. In 2001, 64 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS were infected through sexual transmission and only 27 percent through syringes; in 2002, the rate of sexual transmission was 35 percent and needle transmission 51 percent. By 2003, the rate of infection through the use of needles was 77 percent, with only 19 percent of transmission through sexual contact, according to the ministry of health.

In the 1990s, Mauritius had only 20 to 30 new cases of HIV/AIDS per year. By 2003, those numbers had risen to 225 each year. The total number of cases recorded from 1987 to the end of 2003 was 698 – 99 of whom were foreigners, according to the ministry of health.

‘’The problem has become more complicated,’’ said Rungen, with the increased incidence of HIV/AIDS among substance abusers. ‘’More than 40 percent of sex workers are on drugs and many are HIV-positive.’’

‘’The volunteers, about two-thirds of whom are women, have been trained to prevent the islands from being invaded by drugs and AIDS which strike down young lives. Their role is also to break through taboos by making people understand that HIV/AIDS is a disease like any other,’’ Rungen emphasised.

The volunteers will have direct contact with targeted communities, such as people living with HIV/AIDS drug addicts. They will talk to them about life, drugs, HIV/AIDS, means of transmission and protection, rehabilitation centres for drug abusers, and treatments for HIV/AIDS, Rungen added.

The volunteers will also go door-to-door, visit families, distribute pamphlets and respond to questions. Drug addicts will be visited at anonymous ‘’spots’’ where they always meet.

‘’The volunteers will emphasise the causes of the pandemic, some of which are related to poverty and poor environment,’’ Rungen said. ‘’They will also serve as vigilante in their regions, by watching and warning youths about the risks of drug abuse and HIV/AIDS.’’

So far, volunteers have succeeded in making local people understand the advantages of early HIV/AIDS testing. ‘’It’s better to go for testing because there are life-prolonging drugs which can help people lead normal lives,’’ Rungen said.

The volunteers come from various walks of life: some are former drug addicts themselves, others have close family members who use drugs and fear that someday they might be infected by the AIDS virus. There are also students who want to help out.

One such student, Priscilla Victor, attends lectures and takes part in campaigns. ‘’I can’t stand to see any more tears and families torn apart by drug abuse and AIDS. I love my neighborhood. So I feel it’s my duty to fight against these scourges,’’ she told IPS.

The volunteers say many cases of the drug addiction are caused by the breakdown of the family, prison and alcohol.

Gilberte S., whose husband died of drug abuse, travels everywhere on the island, regardless of the population’s origins or religions. ‘’To remain passive is to be guilty of not helping a person in danger,’’ she told IPS. ‘’That explains my commitment to fighting drug addiction, and, by extension, the spread of HIV/AIDS.’’

The government has set up call-in centres in targeted regions to respond to distress calls from those ill from drug addiction or AIDS.

Anun Kumar Ghallu, NATRESA director, says the United Nations Organisation on Drug and Crime (ONUDC) has given NATRESA 3,000 Euros to subsidise volunteer expenses in Cassis.

‘’NATRESA has spent 15,000 rupees (about 550 dollars) for each of 26 regions in three months to finance transportation and other small expenses,’’ Ghallu told IPS, emphasising that the volunteers receive no remuneration whatsoever. This money, he explained, comes from the government’s anti-drug budget.

The volunteers are trained in an integrated programme where they learn the art of communication. ‘’This allows them to give talks and conduct sessions on tobacco, alcohol, HIV/AIDS and drugs. The programme also teaches them to be good listeners. If one is not a good listener, treating and rehabilitating the sick becomes impossible,’’ Ghallu explained.

Mauritius, a member of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), has one of the lowest HIV prevalence rates in Africa.

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to just over ten percent of the world’s population – and to almost two-thirds of all people living with HIV, according to the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). In 2003, an estimated three million people became newly infected, and 2.2 million died, it said.

In the SADC nations of Lesotho and Swaziland, AIDS prevalence rates now exceed 30 percent for the population between 15 and 49 years, the most affected group. In Botswana, infection rates for the same age group have climbed to 37 percent. Zimbabwe’s prevalence rate in that key population sector is 24.6 percent. In Zambia, the rate is 16.5 percent, according to UNAIDS.