Compendium of Good Practices on Drug Use Prevention, Drug Use Disorders Treatment and Harm Reduction

The African Union Commission is proud to present this seminal work show casing good practices in addressing drug use challenges in Africa. All the articles in this compendium were compiled and submitted by AU Member States Drug Demand Reduction National Focal points. The compendium is published primarily for the purpose of sharing knowledge and enabling countries in Africa to benefit from exchange of experiences and solutions on what works and draw on lessons learnt.

The recommendation of the second session of the African Union Specialized Technical Committee on Health, Population and Drug Control (STC-HPDC-2) in April 2017 to produce a Compendium of Best Practices on Drug Use Prevention, Drug Use Disorders Treatment and Harm Reduction in Africa was timely. Some good things are happening out there. These few articles demonstrate very encouraging steps. Indeed a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Through this publication, and other activities, the African Union will continue to bolster the efforts of hard working Member States, often with limited resources, and in difficult circumstances. In this regard, we would like to thank in a very special way Drug Demand Reduction National focal points who were instrumental in mobilizing national stakeholders to produce the articles.

It is hoped that this publication will encourage all AU Member States and other countries to embrace evidence-informed strategies and interventions to scale up prevention and treatment services where they exist or to calibrate their response to adopt and implement such strategies and interventions where these do not exist.

The production of this compendium was made possible with the support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Regional Office for Eastern Africa. It is the tangible translation of the spirit of cooperation and partnership between the two organisations in their efforts to address drug control at the continental level with greater efficiencies

H.E. Amira Elfadil
African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs