Uganda Harm Reduction Network quarterly newsletter
Greetings from Uganda Harm Reduction Network (UHRN).
We are excited to bring to you our quarterly newsletter which is dedicated to informing you about the strides UHRN has made in their effort to provide services to people who use drugs (PWUDs) in Uganda. In this newsletter we highlight some of the key events that happened in 2021 as well as in the first quarter of 2022. We hope you will find this useful and informative.
UHRN has continued to make tremendous efforts towards addressing the issues affecting PWUDs in Uganda through various Harm reduction interventions amidst the challenges created by Covid 19.
It’s my pleasure to introduce to you some of the significant achievements UHRN has made. Amongst them include the scaling up of the harm reduction interventions in the Teso, Lango and Karamoja regions of Uganda, the integration of social economic empowerment into harm reduction programming that has supported skilling up of PWUDs as a way of preparing them for integration into the community. And lastly the adoption of the diversion strategy by the law enforcement officers as an alternative for incarceration among PWUDs rather than incarceration.
In UHRNs efforts to increase accessibility to Medically Assisted Therapy (MAT) services for PWUDs in Kampala and surrounding areas, UHRN in collaboration with the Makerere School of Public Health and Medical School of Wisconsin is in the processes of rolling out the community dispensing of buprenorphine at the Drop-in Center (DiC). In addition, UHRN in collaboration with M.O.H and Butabika Hospital is rolling out a Mobile Van Dispensing Model of service delivery for clients on MAT. We believe with this we will have increased access to the MAT programme for MAT clients as well as support client’s recovery.
All these efforts have been made possible with contribution from our different partners, harm reduction advocates, like minded civil society organizations, donors and the community of people who used drugs among others. We are grateful for your continuous support.