Health watch

Victim of Drug Abuse:

Burden is more on the family

She is a mother of three, one son and two daughters. She is in the mid-thirties and has come to the Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) clinic, to get herself checked as she has fallen to the category of a female sex worker for few years. Since her husband became a drug addict, she has chosen this path for the sake of three children. Though unwillingly she has to spend money to provide drugs to the spouse too. She continued to explain her difficulties in life with great sorrow and how they lived happily sometimes back when her husband was earning for their family as a driver.

Dr. Shantha Hettiarachchi

"He is inhaling drugs in front of three little children at home. Everyone know him as a drug addict," she was saying sadly.

Schoolmates in the school, are referring our children as Kudda's family members. The son and two daughters are telling their grievances frequently, when they returned home, she further said, in response to the experiences of their children at their school premises in the village.

She said that she will try her best to bring her husband to the next clinic. She was hoping to put him to the correct path through counselling. The tragic circumstances faced by the family members of the drug addicts in our country is reflected in this story.

It is true that the drug use is not a recent phenomenon. The usage of drugs goes back as far as when Sri Lanka was governed under the colonial powers in the sixteenth century. Opium was first introduced to our country as a revenue of earning during the colonial period.

The ethnic violence has facilitated the drug smuggling in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Cannabis and the opium were included prominently in the list of drugs until the year of 1981. Then another dangerous drug known as heroin has been invading this island through the 'hippie' tourists.

Prevalence of drug

According to the Drug Abuse Information 2004-2008, published by the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board, the prevalence of drug related arrests were 141 per 100,000 population in 2008. Among the drug related arrests, 28 percent were for heroin and 71 percent were for cannabis.

The highest number of drug related arrests were reported from the western province (62 percent), followed by 11 percent from the southern province and 9 pecent from the central province. In the western province, 49 percent of the drug related arrests were from the Colombo district, followed by 7 percent from the Gampaha district and 5 percent from the Kalutara district.

We would no longer turn a blind eye on this problem if we could see the difficulties faced by the drug addicts.

The following information was gathered from 400 drug users who volunteered to participate in a program, organized in a rehabilitation camp few years back.

A greater proportion of drug users were labourers (31.5 percent) and vendors (26.5 percent). We found only 1.7 percent drug addicts among public servants. This may be due to the low income and the basic education of the public servants in our country. About 45.2 percent of the drug addicts were spending around 5000 to 10000 rupees while 27.3 percent were spending 10,000 to 15,000 rupees a month.

About 81.6 percent have used heroin only and 18.4 percent have used both heroin and cannabis. About 70.5 percent used to take drugs two to three times a day and 26.5 percent used to take the drugs more than three times in a day. This implies that most of the drug addicts were frequent users.

Another interesting finding was the age at the starting point of drug usage. Around 42.9 percent has tasted this dangerous substances for the first time at the age of 15 to 20 years and 31.5 percent at the age of 20 to 25 years. This observation helps to identify the correct age group when planning a preventive program which is sustainable. This implies that our children are trapped in tasting the drugs during the period of time spent in the school.

Interestingly every drug user has tasted the drugs by an influence of an outsider. All are saying that they had bitter experience the first time when taking the drug but they continued this act with the guidance of their influencer.

Drug dependence

The drug dependence means that the compulsion to take the drug on a continuous or a periodic basis in order to experience its psychic effects and sometimes to avoid the discomfort of its absence. It is a psychological and sometimes physical state characterized by a compulsion to use a drug to experience psychological or physical effects.

Long-term Short-term The short-term effects of heroin and cannabis are flushing of the skin, dry mouth, feeling of heaviness of the extremities, drowsiness and the clouded mental function due to depression of central nervous system, reddening of eyes, decreased strength of muscles, euphoria followed by drowsiness, altered time sense, difficulty in thinking and concentrating and the increased spasm of the heart in the early period. When they take the cannabis for a longer period, the effects on the respiratory system will lead to coughing, infections and even lung cancers.

When the drug user is not able to take the drug as usual he will experience some difficulties and problems, known as withdrawal symptoms. The withdrawal symptoms are restlessness, muscular and bone pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, yawning, secretions of ear and nose, difficulty in sleeping and the severe craving for the drug. As the result of this phenomena the drug user will take the drug continually to reduce these problems.

The long-term effects of heroin use are infections of the heart lining and the valves, cellulitis or inflammation of the tissues and abscess formation, and pneumonia due to poor health and depressing effects of respiration.

In pregnancy, heroin use can lead to low birth weight and development problem of the baby. The babies born to a mother who takes drugs are more prone to develop psychiatric illnesses in later life.

Synthetic drugs

Nowadays some synthetic drugs have been introduced to our island by the drug smugglers. These synthetic drugs are been distributed through the night clubs, karaokes, hotels and restaurants. These synthetic drugs may cause irregular spasm of the heart known as cardiac arrhythmia, internal bleeding of the brain which may even lead to sudden death. The group who are thinking that they become social after taking these synthetic drugs, resulting from loss of inhibition, may not know the hazardous facts related to the drugs.

The drug abuse has become a major social problem to our island. The ill effects of the drugs have not confined to the person. The spouses, parents, children and whole society has been affected by this impact. This has led to an open path for increasing crimes, loosing family bonds, weakening education and getting sexually transmitted diseases including HIV.

It was evident that the drug users are more prone to involve in unprotected sexual contacts with unknown partners as their thinking pattern is disturbed. They need more money to spend for drugs. Therefore, they are prepared to sacrifice not only their lives but also their spouses lives.

We have heard hundreds of confessions from the innocent women in our country, who had been working as sex workers to earn to feed their children and buy drugs for the spouses. Some of them had been forced to accept this job by their partners whom they had thought were faithful before adhering to the dangerous drugs. There is a definite connection with STD and the drug abuse in this way in Sri Lanka.

The correct information on the hazards of drug abuse must be provided to the people differently at different levels in an attractive way. The most concerned group must be school children. The school children should be given the correct information, regarding adverse affects of drug addiction.

They should also be taught the skills and build up courage to refuse the drug addiction as well. The end to drugs will not be a reality until starting and completing this activity which is not a really difficult and money consuming project.

World Malaria Day - 25-4-2010:

Counting Malaria out

Compiled by Disna Mudalige

The World Malaria Day is commemorated on the 25th of this month giving emphasis on the effective control of malaria around the world. Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease, and each year approximately 350-500 million cases of malaria are reported. Tropical regions are affected mostly by malaria and it is considered as a

major hindrance to economic development. This day is used to spread awareness about malaria. Mosquito eradication is one of the effective methods to combat malaria. Even though it is an entirely preventable and treatable disease, Malaria kills 3,000 children a day and takes nearly one million lives every year in Africa.

However, poverty impedes access to treatment and bed nets for prevention.

In a news release from ChildFund Australia, it said that around 881,000 people are killed each year and 85 percent are among children under five. The latest reports show major progress is being made in rolling back malaria, the pressure is now on to help every country meet the Global Malaria Action Plan target of halving the number of malaria deaths and illness from 2000 levels by December 31, 2010.

One of the easiest ways of doing this is increasing the supply of insecticide-treated mosquito nets to families in malaria-prone areas. Despite big increases in recent years, the number available is still far below the need. In Africa alone, 350 million nets are needed.

"We have less than a year to meet the 2010 target of halving the number of malaria deaths and illness from 2000 levels," ChildFund Australia CEO Nigel Spence said. "It is very encouraging to see countries like Ethiopia and Zambia on track to meet these targets, but it is unacceptable that 750,000 children are still dying unnecessarily each year because of this easily preventable and treatable disease."

ChildFund Australia is working with families in Zambia to continue reducing the incidence of malaria, particularly among children. In Mumbwa district, one of the eight areas where ChildFund operates, mosquito nets are being distributed to around 25,000 households. As well as providing nets, children and families are being educated about how to prevent malaria and recognise the symptoms.

Sri Lanka entered the malaria pre-elimination stage in 2008, and there is a dramatic drop in the transmission of malaria in Sri Lanka in recent years. Anuradhapura and Kurunegala previously considered as malaria epidemic districts with high frequency of transmission specially during rainy seasons. However, the number of victims of malaria is very low in Sri Lanka according to an island wide assessment. The distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets is thought to contribute highly for the dramatic decline of Malaria in the country.

This year's World Malaria Day is important because it sets out plans for the eradication of this drastic endemic from the world leaving no more sufferings for the innocent victims. Through this commemoration the whole world has come together to cooperate for a common goal of eliminating this drastic disease from the entire world. Wikipedia and ChildFund Australia

Contraceptive:

The abortion preventer

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

What do you know/think about contraception? Contraception is very important when it comes to preventing abortions. Induced abortions can be deadly! Do you agree if one says contraception is better than putting your health at risk?

According to the educational publications on family planning published by the Family Planning Association, choosing a contraceptive method depends on few reasons.

They are, to postpone the birth of the first child, to keep a space between children and to limit the number of children.

Oral Contraceptive Pill (OCP) and condoms are the two reliable methods that can be used to postpone the birth of the first child.

Natural and traditional methods are less reliable when comparing with the above two modern methods.

There are three contraceptive methods. They are modern, natural and traditional. Condoms (male and female), hormone tablets (OCP), hormone injections (DMPA), hormone implants and intrauterine devices (IUD) containing copper or hormone are the temporary modern methods.

Permanent modern methods are the male and female sterilization. Emergency modern methods are emergency contraceptive tablets and IUD. Standard Day Method (SDM), basal body temperature, cervical mucus method, lactational amenorrhea (LAM) and sympto-thermal method are the natural methods while coitus interruption and abstinence (100 percent effective) consider as traditional methods. Natural and traditional methods are less reliable than modern methods.

Family planning methods should be selected with the assistance of qualified and trained medical professional considering the objective, health status and the other medications use by the lady/mother. If she is suffering from other health conditions such as high blood pressure, heart diseases, the contraceptive method should be selected considering such conditions.

If the couple does not desire to have a child immediately and are engaged in sexual activities a pregnancy can occur, unless a reliable contraceptive method is used. Sometimes an unexpected pregnancy can occur due to failure of a contraceptive method. All methods may have failures but most of the modern methods are safe and reliable. Failure often occurs due to incorrect and inconsistent use of the contraceptive methods.