Gran Kaz Gives DURNS SCR50,000 to aid in their efforts towards Sustaining Harm Reduction in Seychelles

Gran Kaz handed over a cheque worth SCR50,000 at the official launch of the Drug Utilisation Response Network of Seychelles (DURNS) on Tuesday 8th May 2018. DURNS is a recently formed NGO working towards eradicating the current drug affliction in the country. The donation will go towards one of their first projects which is a Needs Assessment of Women Who Inject Drugs. The project is aimed at compiling comprehensive data on the issues surrounding women who inject drugs and making concrete recommendations to policy makers on how best to remove them from this environment.

Integrated Behavioural and Biological Surveillance Surveys (IBBS) conducted in Seychelles in 2011 with People Who Inject Drugs (PWIDs), in 2015 with Female Sex Workers (FSW) and in 2017 with heroin users show that in 2011, women constituted 20% of the population of PWIDs, compared to 14.8% of heroin users in general in 2015 and 13.9% of PWIDs in 2017. Amongst women who used heroin, 33.9% were injecting drugs. Among the FSW sampled in 2015, there were 30.8% who were injecting drugs, especially heroin.

Further analysis showed that 10% of WWIDs were HIV positive compared to 8.6% of women who use heroin in general. As for hepatitis C, 65% of WWIDs were positive, compared to 18.4% of women who use heroin, but did not inject it. In terms of education, 65% of WWIDs had only completed secondary education, whereas 10% have completed academic post-secondary education compared to 25% who have completed vocational post-secondary education. The WWIDs were relatively on the older side, with 45% aged 30 to 39 years; and 30% aged 15 to 24 years.

Through outreach programmes, whereby members go into areas where drug users congregate - collecting data; speaking to individuals and educating them on the array of health, social and economic implications of drug use, for themselves as well as their families; offering them programmes as well as a network to assist them in rehabilitation and recovery - the DURNS aims to significantly reduce the amount of people who inject drugs (PWIDs) by 25% in the next 5 years and ultimately achieve zero new cases of HIV  and Hepatitis C through people who inject drugs by 2030.

We accompanied them on one of these outreach exercises and we were shocked at what we witnessed. We hear about drugs taking over people’s lives, but you never really expect to see it to such an extent, especially here in Seychelles.

We spoke to one young woman, Ketline Songoire who tells us that for the past 3 months she has been living in a shack, consisting of a low boundary wall, 2 corrugated iron sheets and a number of umbrellas to keep the rain out. It’s more of a structure to protect against the elements of the weather, than a place to live. Inside, she fits a chair, which serves as her sleeping space, a few of her clothes, picture frames and a number of other small belongings. She tells us that she used to live with her family, but she had to leave because of her drug problem. She has been using for over 10 years now, she is only 35 and she has 6 children - 7 grandchildren, all of whom live with relatives. She tells us she wants out of this life, she wants to be a functioning member of society again, she wants to be a mother to her children again, to have them live with her, in a safe and comfortable home.

Though her particular story stands out, she is just one of many people living this nightmare. Who realise that they are watching their lives evaporate right in front of them, but are powerless to do anything to stop it. They say they know they need to stop using heroin, but they don’t know where to start or how.

Fady Banane, Network Coordinator of DURNS, who himself is a former user says that their programme “support not punish”  which focuses on compassion rather than punishment aims to truly understand the plights of the people they are trying to help, find out how they got to where they are, what are the issues that drove them to heroin. He says understanding the problem is halfway to finding the solution.

We at Gran Kaz are happy to assist them in this worthy battle.