Harm Reduction Program Malaysia

The needle syringe exchange programme nsep remains on the front line of the harm reduction approach to reduce hiv vulnerability among people who inject drugs.

Harm reduction program malaysia. Introduced by the ministry of health in partnership with the malaysian aids council in 2006 the nsep broke new grounds in providing direct community based health care services for people who inject drugs nationwide. The aim of this program is mainly to prevent blood borne viral infections hiv hepatitis c hepatitis b due to needles sharing methadone replacement therapy takes place when a patient is prescribed with methadone by a medical officer and the consumption is supervised by a pharmacist. The program included the needle and syringe program nsp a program where people who inject drugs are offered clean needles and syringes and methadone maintenance therapy mmt a. Cost effectiveness and return on investment of harm reduction programmes for people who inject drugs in malaysia.

Scale up of harm reduction in malaysia. Harm reduction initiatives have only recently been introduced in malaysia. View this abstract on the conference website. This project aimed to assess whether the harm reduction programme in malaysia which consists of nsp and mmt programmes amongst pwid have been cost effective from the perspective of the government by estimating savings in direct health care cost to the government resulting from.

Malaysia s harm reduction programme was somewhat controversial with opponents criticising what appeared to be legitimising of illicit drug use reid kamarulzaman sran 2007. Kuala lumpur malaysia is combating an epidemic of hiv infections transmitted through sharing contaminated needles and syringes in 2006 the government initiated limited programs of harm reduction interventions. Kuala lumpur march 2011 ministry of health malaysia world health organization western pacific regional office and world health organization office of the representative for brunei darussalam malaysia and singapore. Seventh ias conference on hiv pathogenesis treatment and prevention kuala lumpur 2013 abstract wead0101.

The successful piloting of substitution therapies in particular methadone and buprenorphine is cause for genuine hope for the rapid development of such interventions. Naning h et al. Prevention of hiv transmission through the sharing of needles and syringes of the malaysia national strategy on hiv and aids 2011 2015 draft recognises the urgency of sustaining and scaling up existing comprehensive prevention interventions i e. Needle and syringe exchange programme nsep and methadone maintenance therapy mmt in the injecting drug user idu population.