A three member delegation from Pakistan attended a Regional Seminar on “Reducing Harms of Drug Use in Middle East & Central Asia” from October 27 – 29, in Tehran, Iran.
The delegation was led by Mr. Iftikhar Ahmed, Deputy Director General, Anti-Narcotics Force, and included Mr. Yamin Khan, Inspector General Prisons, Sindh and Dr. Hasan Abbas Zaheer, National Program Manager, National AIDS Control Program. From the UNODC Pakistan, Dr. Nadeemur Rehman, Drugs and HIV Adviser and Dr. Farrukh Mahmood, Project Officer also attended the Seminar.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Iran, in collaboration with the Iranian Drug Control Headquarters (DCHQ) organized the regional seminar. Participating countries included Middle East and Central Asia countries namely Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
The objective of the seminar was to expose all participants (national/regional) to international best practices in harm reduction and to provide opportunities for future collaboration amongst participating countries.
The Seminar was inaugurated by the Iranian Health Minister. The four working session of the seminar included sessions on Harm Reduction in Prison Settings, Abstinence- based Treatment Programmes, Opioid Substitution Treatment (OST), Needle & Syringe (NSP) Programmes
Mr. Yamin Khan, IG Prisons, Sindh presented the country report on harm reduction in prisons in Pakistan, in Session 1. Mr. Iftikhar Ahmed, DDG, ANF gave a presentation on abstinence based treatment programmes in Pakistan, in Session 2. Dr. Hasan Abbas Zaheer, NPM, NACP, presented the country report on needle and syringe programmes in Pakistan, in Session 4. The presentations in each session were followed by group work. Dr. Zaheer was the Rapporteur in Session 3 Group Work.
Site visits were arranged to Iranian Narcotics Centre for Addiction Studies, Drop-in-centre for women and to Rajaee Shahr prison.
The seminar provided the participants an excellent opportunity to share experiences and learn about the harm reduction programmes in other regional countries.