The sixth meeting of the High-Level Drugs and HIV Council was held, yesterday afternoon, at the New Treasury Building in Port Louis, under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, to take stock of progress made as regards the implementation of measures and actions to fight drug trafficking and substance abuse in the country.
Discussions focused on strategies to deal with persons using drugs and a new plan which will be implemented by the Drug Offenders Administrative Panel. This new setup will allow drug users to undergo treatment at a rehabilitation center, announced the Prime Minister.
Mr Jugnauth highlighted that 81% of the recommendations outlined in the Commission of Enquiry on Drug Trafficking Report have already been implemented and that 35 are in the process of being enacted.
Speaking on the National Drug Control Master Plan 2019-2023, he indicated that it will terminate at the end of the year. On the same score, he said that the UN Resident Coordinator has confirmed the support of an expert to devise the next Master Plan.
The Prime Minister emphasised that prevention campaigns are essential to inform the public and children, particularly, of the dangers of drugs. He called on concerned authorities to escalate works to this regard.
Mr Jugnauth underscored that international and regional collaboration are equally important in the combat against drug trafficking. He recalled that Mauritius has further enhanced cooperation with other countries and deemed that the deepening of ties will positively contribute in the fight against drug dealers.
With regards to HIV, Dr Jagutpal underlined that the local situation was reviewed and that there is a great concentration of HIV among drug users. He said strategies were based mostly on containing the virus among the key population at risk for HIV including drug users, and homosexuals and that lately heterosexuals are also being detected as positive patients.
The strategy, now, will be to enable more people to do an HIV test, he remarked. Dr Jagutpal indicated that the HIV Act was amended, and that self-testing was introduced to allow a person to know about his HIV status. This, he said will increase the testing capacity and help in the combat against HIV.
