It’s a proven fact that drug abusers which includes both the injecting as well as non injecting drug users suffer from higher risk of infectious diseases like HIV and HCV.
The major causes of the transmission of these diseases include usage of contaminated drug injection equipment or involvement in unprotected and risky sexual activities. Drug abuse is responsible for engagement in risky sexual behavior in most of the cases. So, in simple terms, it can be said that the first step for HIV AIDS prevention lies in effective drug abuse treatment. Counseling certainly enhances the level of prevention of this disease as it deals with a variety of cases related with HIV AIDS.
The experiments conducted in this field have revealed that drug abusers who don’t take drug abuse treatment suffer from six times higher risk of being infected with HIV AIDS as compared to those drug users who are a part of drug abuse treatment program. It happens because drug abuse treatment helps the drug abusers in reducing their involvement in the activities which become the cause of the spread of HIV AIDS. Treatment options save the drug abusers from sharing injection equipment getting involved in unprotected sexual activities.
Not only this, when the drug abusers participate in various treatment programs for drug addiction, they also get chances for counseling, screening and come to know about the availability of additional services like access to HAART and early HIV treatment. In fact, HIV testing and counseling play a pivotal role in superior drug abuse treatment programs and all individuals who become a part of the treatment process should be offered this. The availability of inexpensive and unobtrusive rapid HIV tests on a wide scale would certainly help in increasing the awareness of people about HIV prevention and treatment and thus reducing its spread to a great extent.
There are a wide variety of settings as well as behavioral and pharmacological approaches which can be used for the treatment of drug abusers. Drug addiction is such a complex disorder that can completely disrupt the functioning of an individual including his family as well as work life.
As drug addiction is a very complex problem and can even lead to pervasive consequences, so the whole process of drug addiction treatment should be followed very carefully. The treatment is composed of various components and each component should be given due emphasis. Some of the important functions of the components is to curb the individual's drug use, offer employment training and taking steps to bring the addicted individual back to his productive place in his family as well as the society. The best part is that it helps the drug abuser to realize the rewards for abstinence and bring him closer to the treatment.
Treatment for drug abuse and addiction is delivered in many different settings using a variety of behavioral and pharmacological approaches. Depending on the requirements and the addiction level of the person, drug treatment facilities provide behavioral therapy, medication, counseling and other types of services to the drug addicts.
Now a day’s various specialized drug treatment facilities are available for giving the best possible treatment to the drug addicts. Drug abusers can also be effectively treated in mental health clinics and physician’s offices with the help of counselors, psychologists, nurses, physicians and psychiatrists.
Keeping in view the availability of the patients, the treatment is facilitated to the drug abusers in inpatient, outpatient as well as residential settings. The fact can’t be denied that some specific treatment settings require particular treatment approaches, but the option for using a variety of therapeutic interventions or services can be possible in any setting.
So, with proper drug addiction treatment, the spread of HIV AIDS can be undoubtedly curtailed to a large extent. The only need to make this possible is to follow the treatment process and understand the treatment facilities required by the patients to help them in the best possible manner.
