Among the ideas that received the Ministry’s attention and had a great impact on the Egyptian street, were home visits, a large number of which were carried out in various governorates of the country, to raise awareness of the harms of drug abuse and early detection mechanisms.
Home visits or “door-knocking” campaigns are one of the mechanisms on which the fund has great hopes to reduce the spread of addiction, and optimally deal with disease cases and treat them early.
Assistant Minister of Solidarity and Director of the Addiction and Substance Abuse Control and Treatment Fund, Amr Othman, says, “We are implementing these campaigns within the framework of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s mandate in the areas developed to protect against drugs, and this reflects the role of the Egyptian state in investing in people.”
Upgrading demographics
In his interview with “Sky News Arabia”, Othman added, “Our role is to raise the demographic characteristics of our people in the developed areas, because the Egyptian state does not work only on the infrastructure, but it elevates the demographic characteristics of individuals.”
The Assistant Minister of Solidarity confirmed, “When we started designing the program, the main idea was to prepare volunteer leaders in the developed places and train them on a work guide that speaks on life skills and the ability to communicate and persuade.”
Among the most prominent areas in which Egypt has implemented home visits are the Asmarat neighborhood, Mahrousa, October Gardens and Rawdat al-Sayida in Cairo governorate, Bashayer al-Khair in Alexandria, the suburbs neighborhood in Port Said governorate and a large number of areas in various governorates of the country.
The director of the Addiction and Substance Abuse Control and Treatment Fund explained that “the volunteers, after their training and rehabilitation, are directed to carry out door-knock campaigns, because we do not work with any individuals outside the area in which they are located. with visits.
137 thousand visits
Regarding the visits that took place during the current year, Othman said in his interview with “Sky News Arabia”, “We have made 137,000 visits to the developed and adjacent areas, in various governorates, and it is not a requirement that the visit be for one time only because the average visits per family reaches up to About 3 visits.
The Assistant Minister of Solidarity continued, “The door-knock and home visits campaign benefited nearly 49,000 families throughout the year. The visits are first spoken with young people about misconceptions about drugs, the black culture of the problem and its seriousness.”
Hot line
The Fund for Combating and Treating Addiction and Abuse has designated hotline number 16023 to receive incoming calls throughout the day regarding the desire for free and confidential treatment of addiction, in addition to following up on cases under treatment.
The line also provides advice to families on the mechanisms of early detection of addiction, and how to deal with diseased cases, in addition to providing psychological support services, rehabilitation programs and reducing relapse.
The Director of the Addiction and Substance Abuse Control and Treatment Fund indicated that “when visits are to the family, we talk to them about the addiction prevention guide and the most important messages in it, how to protect our children from drugs, the importance of early detection and what we do in the meantime.”
Specialized Clinics
And the Assistant Minister of Solidarity added in his interview with “Sky News Arabia”, “The cases that are discovered are transferred to the specialized clinics that we have established in a number of areas, such as those in Asmarat, Mahrousa, Bashayer al-Khair and the suburbs neighborhood in Port Said, and in the event that the cases are difficult to treat within the clinics. They are transferred to specialized treatment centers to reserve them and carry out the necessary follow-up.”
The Director of the Addiction and Substance Abuse Control and Treatment Fund confirmed, “8,238 people benefited from specialized clinics between a new examination or follow-up on their health. The main idea of making visits and clinics is not to wait for people to come for treatment, but to be closer to them, give them confidence, and provide them with service within the space in which they are located.
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