By William Milasi

Acting Director of Health in Kwekwe has said victims of drug abuse in Kwekwe are not coming out in the open to benefit from various intervention programs being rolled out by the local authority and since last year less than 20 accessed services.

Sister Patricia Shumba, the Acting Health Director in Kwekwe speaking recently during a War Against Drugs program said the biggest challenge that Kwekwe is experiencing in its interventions in combating the scourge is that the intended beneficiaries are not coming out in the open to admit that they have a problem.

“As Kwekwe City Council we were not spared after Covid-19 we suddenly realized there were cases of drugs and substance abuse cropping out in the community.  We were quick enough to engage a psychiatric nurse to start because we did not have one. We started having some counseling sessions and we have partners that were working with us just to name a few we have Friendship Bench, Plan International Bench, Jointed Hands, and Zvandiri. We had our general nurses trained on mental health in all our five clinics, they were trained in mental health counseling, and our community health workers trained them so that they can identify these cases in the community.  We started having these counseling sessions at all our facilities but the youth were not coming up,” she said.

Invariably, the council decided to have these counseling sessions in recreational centers which are Mbizo and Amaveni Hall.

“Our main challenge is that the affected ones are not coming out. From August to December last year, not even 10 were coming up. This year we managed to get three males and two females but the majority who are getting educational and mental health counseling are not opening up that they have a drug problem. There is still a stigma in our community around these issues. If they come they do not come for revisits they go away forever that is the challenge we have,” she said.