PICS: Tshwane needle exchange project helps addicts against diseases

Gauta Malapana and Marko Bekker can be seen walking the streets of Pretoria twice a week carrying a bright, yellow bucket covered in hazardous waste signs, with their backpacks filled with bottles of saline solution and packages of syringes.

This past International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking was no different, as the two members of the Harmless HIV Prevention Programme trekked off to the dodgiest street corners in the Pretoria city centre.

As soon as they stopped, heroin addicts appeared from under bridges and out of dark alleyways, with their hands full of used syringes and needles.

Marko Bekker exchanges clean needles with an addict in the Pretoria CBD as part of a needle exchange programme known as the Harmless Program, 26 June 2018. Marko used to be a user himself and had been injecting herion dayly for about 7 years before joining the programme in order to help other addicts on the streets of Pretoria. Picture: Jacques Nelles

They gave Bekker their names and a reference number and dumped the used syringes and needles in the hazardous waste bucket. Malapana counted the clean syringes before handing them over, along with a couple of bottles of saline solution.

Malapana and Bekker were both addicted to heroin before joining the programme and they know exactly what it’s like to be on the streets craving your next fix.

“Our main goal is to prevent the spread of infections like hepatitis C and HIV. We provide users with clean needles. We provide them with hope,” Bekker said.

A heroin addict prepares to shoot up in plain sight after receiving a fresh set of needles from the Harmless programme participants in the Pretoria CBD, 26 June 2018. Picture: Jacques Nelles

Malapana added: “We teach them to use safely and responsibly. Quitting entirely is up to the individual, but we provide help for the users, making it easier for them to open up to us. There are less friends dying on the streets since we started this project.”

The ages of the addicts that the team deals with range between 18 and 25.

Connie van Staden, the programme’s advocacy and human rights officer, who lived on the streets for nine years before joining the programme, is worried about the future of the youth.

Gauta Malapana is seen exchanging clean needles with an addict in the Pretoria CBD as part of a needle exchange programme known as the Harmless Program, 26 June 2018, Gauta used to be a user himself for 10 years before joining the programme in order to help other addicts on the streets of Pretoria. Picture: Jacques Nelles

“Where will we get our workforce from when the youth are addicted to heroin and dying from hepatitis C. Something needs to be done and this is where we come in.”

As we walked from the one end of the Pretoria city centre to the other, I was shocked at the number of users approaching us on the streets. Some of them were barely old enough to be out of school.

As we walked from block to block, we were constantly stopped by addicts holding up their used drug paraphernalia, desperate to get a clean set.

Herion addicts line up to have their used needles exchanged for new ones from the Harmless programme participants in the Pretoria CBD, 26 June 2018. Picture: Jacques Nelles

There are roughly 4 500 heroin users in Pretoria alone and according to Sakkie du Plooy, member of the mayoral committee for health and social development, 90% of them have hepatitis C and 50% are HIV-positive.

The Harmless HIV Prevention team aims to lessen the burden on the addicts and to give them hope and the means to get their lives back on track.

– jacquesn@citizen.co.za

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