‘Escalate fight against drug abuse’

Walter Nyamukondiwa in KADOMA

THE provincial drug and substance abuse committees have been challenged by the Government to move beyond meetings and awareness campaigns and deliver measurable results in communities, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Dr Kazembe Kazembe said yesterday.

Speaking at the official opening of a three-day Training of Trainers for the remaining five Provincial Committees on Drug and Substance Abuse in Kadoma, Minister Kazembe said the success of the national response will depend on how early people at risk are reached and how effectively those needing help access services.

Minister Kazembe, who is deputy chairperson of the National Committee on Drug and Substance Abuse, was representing the committee’s chairperson, who is also Defence Minister, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri.

The training brings together representatives from Matabeleland South, Matabeleland North, Masvingo, Midlands and host province Mashonaland West, completing the rollout of training for provincial structures under the national drug and substance abuse response.

“Training should not end when participants leave this venue,” said Minister Kazembe.

He challenged the committees to leave the workshop with clear implementation plans detailing responsibilities, required resources, partners and measurable targets.

“The test is not the number of meetings held or workshops conducted. The test is whether people at risk are reached early, whether those affected can access appropriate services, and whether communities become safer and healthier,” he said.

Minister Kazembe said provincial implementation plans should serve as practical management tools rather than documents produced merely to fulfil workshop requirements.

Five provincial committees were trained in 2024 and another this year, with the latest programme completing the training rollout and strengthening the national strategy’s reach into communities.

“A national strategy can only achieve its intended results when its implementation architecture reaches the communities,” he said.

The programme is anchored on the seven pillars of the Zimbabwe Multisectoral Drug and Substance Abuse Action Plan (2024-2030), covering supply and demand reduction, harm reduction, treatment and rehabilitation, community reintegration and psychosocial support, media and communication, policy and legal matters, and resource mobilisation.

Participants will map available services, examine referral pathways, assess the operationalisation of rehabilitation centres and develop provincial implementation plans.

Welcoming delegates, Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Marian Chombo said the drug menace remained a threat to individuals, families, communities and national development. She said provinces were the critical link between national policy and community-level action.

“The fight against drug and substance abuse is not won in conference rooms alone. It is won through sustained action in our communities, schools, workplaces, families and institutions,” said Minister Chombo.

She called for stronger prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, harm reduction and reintegration programmes to help affected people recover and return to their families and communities.

Minister Chombo said tackling the problem required a Whole-of-Government and whole-of-society approach involving health, law enforcement, education, social protection, youth development, employment, justice, families, traditional and religious leaders, civil society, the private sector, academia, the media and people with lived experience.

She said mapping services would help ensure people seeking assistance were not lost between institutions because services were unknown, inaccessible or poorly coordinated.

He also urged provinces to prioritise the welfare of frontline workers dealing with trauma, relapse, stigma and vulnerable families.

“What we require is not parallel programming, but a coordinated national response in which each institution understands its mandate and contributes to a shared result,” he said.

The ultimate objective, he said, was to “transform coordination into action, policy into programmes, and programmes into measurable improvements in the lives of our people.”

Also present were Public Health Advisor to the President and Cabinet Dr Agnes Mahomva and Permanent Secretary for Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare and chairman of the National Technical Committee on Drug and Substance Abuse Mr Pfungwa Kunaka.

Source: ‘Escalate fight against drug abuse’ – herald

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