A Cape Town based organisation is determined to prevent HIV/Aids transmission and appeals to residents to support their call to have sharps-disposable bins installed in public spaces.
These sharps-disposal bins allow drug-injecting users to discard their needles in a safe manner.
TB HIV Care, situated in the City Bowl, provides mobile health services aimed at preventing HIV and reducing drug related harm across the city.
Mildrett Stevens, a social worker and project coordinator for the People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) programme for TB HIV Care, says their aim is to eliminate the spread of HIV/Aids and other blood borne diseases.
“We give the clients clean needles. If we do not give clean needles, clients are going to share and then the HIV/Aids rate spikes, they run the risk of contracting hepatitis and any other blood borne diseases.”
She explains that hotspots areas where discarded needles are often found, is Woodstock, Salt River, Observatory, City Bowl, Bellville and Wynberg.
Stevens says the focus of their programme is harm reduction.
“We work with the client where they are at. So, if they tell us they want to cut down, we encourage that, if they say they want to stop, we encourage that. If they say, I want to use but in a healthy way, then that is what we support the client in doing.”
Stevens explains that about 90% of their clients are people living on the street and adds that the sharps-bins will help them to dispose of the needles responsibly.
“On every outreach we provide clients with an opportunity to hand back needles. We hand them a personal sharps container, and that container can take between 10 and 16 needles at a time. Sometimes when clients do not have containers, we educate them that a plastic box with a lid is also ideal. Then nobody can get injured. 99% of the needles we distribute are returned to us.”
Stevens explains that during their outreach programmes they educate clients on the importance of appropriately discarding used needles.
“We educate them on how to inject healthily. And this is where we provide clean needles and syringes together with psycho-social counselling. We do, if a client says they want to go to rehab, refer them.”
She adds: “The public can assist by advocating with us for the installation of sharps-bins in hotspot areas so that when clients are using they can discard of the needle in a specific bin which is cleaned by specific people who know how to handle it. We make a concerted effort to get needles returned and to discard them appropriately.”
She says they also assist clients to find shelter if clients indicate that they want to sober up.
“We offer the needles and syringe programme. We also empower some clients to conduct regular clean-ups in hotspot areas, through this the client earns a stipend.”
Stevens explains that through sensitisation training they educate the public about the unique challenges of PWID’s.
“We hope that this training brings a lot of understanding in how to engage with key populations. We also provide clean-up training to organisations and different stakeholder groups on how to deal with discarded needles.”
- To contact the organisation to report a needle or syringe, call their hotline number on 079 589 8834
