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Saving lives, one needle at a time
30 Nov 2015 — The needle-and-syringe-exchange programme is the cornerstone of the Malaysian government-initiated harm-reduction strategy to minimise the risk of HIV transmission among drug users. Introduced in 2006, despite public opposition and restrictive legal stance against drug offences, the programme has benefited more than 83,000 drug users and improved their access to clean needles and syringes, HIV testing and treatment in addition to other life-saving healthcare services. The harm-reduction strategy has also halved new HIV infections among people who inject drugs in the past decade, from 3,127 cases in 2006 to 680 last year. The Malaysian Insider through freelance photojournalist Ahmad Yusni visits the Malaysian-Thai border town of Bukit Bunga, Tanah Merah, Kelantan, as demarcated by the narrow Sungai Golok. There, a needle and syringe exchange programme, run by the Kelantan Patient Intermediary Association (SAHABAT), a partner organisation of the Malaysian AIDS Council, serves as many as 30 people who inject drugs from both sides of the border daily.
A Population Services International (PSI) health outreach worker with the needles and syringes distributed to drug users near Sungai Golok. – Pic by Ahmad Yusni/Harm Reduction International, November 30, 2015.
A group of drug users congregating on an islet in the middle of the narrow Sungai Golok (considered a no-man’s-land) waiting to be served by outreach health workers from SAHABAT and its Thai counterpart, Population Services International (PSI). – Pic by Ahmad Yusni/Harm Reduction International, November 30, 2015.
PSI health outreach workers crossing Sungai Golok to the no-man’s-land islet to deliver clean needles and other needle and syringe exchange programme services to drug users. – Pic by Ahmad Yusni/Harm Reduction International, November 30, 2015.
A PSI health outreach worker with new needle packets to be distributed to drug users at the Bukit Bunga needle and syringe exchange programme site, Kelantan.– Pic by Ahmad Yusni/Harm Reduction International, November 30, 2015.
A drug user waiting at the Sungai Golok riverbank in Kelantan.– Pic by Ahmad Yusni/Harm Reduction International, November 30, 2015.
A PSI health outreach worker (in blue) with a drug user on the Sungai Golok islet, Kelantan. – Pic by Ahmad Yusni/Harm Reduction International, November 30, 2015.
Sterile needle, syringe and other paraphernalia distributed to drug users at the Bukit Bunga site in Kelantan. – Pic by Ahmad Yusni/Harm Reduction International, November 30, 2015.
A PSI health outreach worker (right) educating drug users on the Sungai Golok islet on safe injecting practices. – Pic by Ahmad Yusni/Harm Reduction International, November 30, 2015.
A drug user taking shelter from the sweltering heat under a tarpaulin canopy on the Sungai Golok islet. – Pic by Ahmad Yusni/Harm Reduction International, November 30, 2015.
A PSI health outreach worker (right) educating drug users on safe injecting practices. – Pic by Ahmad Yusni/Harm Reduction International, November 30, 2015.
Plastic bag containing used needles to be handed to a health outreach worker for disposal. – Pic by Ahmad Yusni/Harm Reduction International, November 30, 2015.
A resident of the Rumah SAHABAT shelter for men living with HIV. Rumah SAHABAT was set up in Kota Baru, Kelantan, in May by the Malaysian AIDS Council and the Malaysian AIDS Foundation for recovering drug users. It is the first in Kelantan to offer HIV-related palliative care and access to methadone maintenance therapy. – Pic by Ahmad Yusni/Harm Reduction International, November 30, 2015.
A Kelantan Health Department officer (right) chatting with a resident at Rumah SAHABAT in Kota Baru, Kelantan. – Pic by Ahmad Yusni/Harm Reduction International, November 30, 2015.
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