Calls to destigmatise the illness of substance abuse

The online event was hosted by the South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (Sanca). “SUD is more commonly known as an addiction which is a diagnosable, treatable medical condition,” explains Adrie Vermeulen, national coordinator of Sanca.

“While the first instance of alcohol or drug use is a choice, these substances have the powerful potential of changing the brain’s physical structure so that the body needs the substance for survival. “These physical changes to the brain structure are irreversible and that’s why SUD is a chronic, incurable disease.” “This wicked social problem impairs our citizens’ social, cultural, innovative technological and economic contribution to South Africa’s collective fabric,” said Zulu.

“Our efforts in addressing the burden of SUD is a national priority as part of South Africa’s commitment to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

Western Cape provincial minister of social development, Sharna Fernandez, added her support to the cause during her address.

“The social sector needs to regroup if we want to be intentional about preventing and treating substance use disorders, we need to look at it in a different way than in the past.”

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Key themes across most of the presentations included the need to destigmatise the illness, collaborate across medical disciplines, and funding from both public and private sectors to enable individualised evidence-based treatment.

Destigmatise the illness Several presenters asserted that substance abuse should be seen as a healthcare problem, not as a criminal justice problem.

This mindset shift will allow facts – rather than beliefs based on tradition, culture, or religion – to inform the early detection and treatment of SUD.

“We need to invest in innovating working strategies that will lead to the destigmatisation of substance users,” added Zulu.

“This will enable the substance users to regain their sense of self-worth, dignity, and exploit the socio-economic prospects of contributing to society.”

“Anger and shaming have no place in addiction treatment,” warned Dr Raju Hajela from Calgary-based Health Upwardly Mobile during his presentation.

Collaborate to redesign prevention and treatment

The Covid-19 pandemic presented new challenges in the provision of evidence based prevention and care, treatment and rehabilitation for those with substance use disorders,” said Phaahla.

“On the positive side, the pandemic has at the same time brought to light opportunities that we can build on improved services.” This is a chronic and incurable disease that remains even after the initial acute treatment, patients with SUD require ongoing check-ups from healthcare and social work professionals.

The rapid adoption of telemedicine during the pandemic makes this ongoing care much easier, especially for patients located far from healthcare facilities.

The treatment of the disease is complex; it needs to be created for each individual’s unique circumstances and involves a variety of specialist caregivers.

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As it is an incurable disease, patients often require the assistance of their families, friends and communities to support their holistic treatment protocol.

Collaboration between the various parties is therefore crucial to the creation of prevention and treatment strategies that have a direct, effective and lasting impact on instances of SUD.

Public-private partnerships needed to train addiction specialists

SUD is a public health crisis that has an impact on communicable diseases, crime, terrorism and poverty. The far-reaching impact of the SUD crisis caused a rising need for public-private partnerships to fund sub-specialty training to increase the training of addiction specialists.

Amira Elfadil, the commissioner of the African Union, said during her presentation:

“Africa is no longer just a transit region for drugs but a major consumption market. I cannot over-emphasise the need for well-trained professionals able to apply evidence-based SUD treatment protocols.” T

he Addiction 2021 online conference had 610 delegates from 41 countries who watch presentations from 95 speakers. Zulu labelled the conference as “the literal embodiment of the movement that will ignite our collective creativity and solution co-creation in this area.”

In his closing keynote speech, Phaahla said: “I’m looking forward to the report of this conference so that it can help map our way forward.”