WEST AFRICA HEALTH WORKERS FIGHT DRUG ABUSE

A four-day sub-regional workshop on updating knowledge and skills on drug abuse, counselling and treatment was held in Accra for health workers in West Africa.Organised by the West Africa College of Nurses (WACN), the workshop aims at explaining the concept of drug abuse, delineate health hazards associated with drug abuse, and come out with the latest medical and nursing management of drug abuse patients.The workshop, one of the numerous continuing professional development programme in the form of training of trainers, is organised for nurses and mid-wives in the sub-region to enable them update their knowledge and skills on specialised areas of practice.In an address, Solomon Adeleve, executive secretary of WACN, said even though there is no reliable statistics on drug abuse in West Africa, the issue cannot be wished away because of its combined medical, criminal economic and social impact on the resources of governments and on society as a whole.Adeleve said WACN could make a difference in bringing about a drastic reduction in the cases of substance abuse in communities through early health education, counselling and recognition of the problem with appropriate treatment."By organising and sponsoring this workshop, the West Africa College of Nurses is fulfilling its objectives of promoting excellence in nursing education and practice, thus contributing to the improvement of health care delivery in the West Africa sub-region," he said.Of late, West Africa has been used as a transit point by traffickers for narcotic drugs originating from South America, with huge cocaine hauls seized in Ghana, Guinea Bissau and Sierra Leone. This has also led to the increased use of cocaine in some countries in the sub-region.Ruth Gyang, a fellow of the Ghana chapter of WACN, said the methods of abuse of illicit drugs keep changing so all nurses and mid-wives must update their knowledge and skills in line with the new modes of abuse "so that their knowledge and skills will be ready as what to look for" in patients.Gyang said murses should apply their skills to reduce the crime rate, cross-infection and other social vices, adding that the use of unsterilised needles and syringes spread HIV/AIDS, Hepattis B and promiscuity.