Detox and a New Life: Supporting Options for Women Who Inject Drugs in Manipur

indiaaidsalliance 18 April, 2013

Alliance India’s Chanura Kol project offers a range of harm reduction services for women who inject drugs to help them lead a better life. Detoxification is the most important option in this strategy.Since the inception of the project in 2010, 113 women have completed detoxification to wean themselves off drugs.

Detoxification reduces withdrawal symptoms and helps an addicted person adjust to living without the effects of opiates or other drugs. Alliance India’s partner in the project, Social Awareness Service Organisation (SASO), provides this option either at the homes of female injecting drug users in situations where they have supportive family members or in a clinical setting when drug users lack family support.

Once detox is completed, the process of rehabilitation begins. Chanura Kol encourages the rebuilding of strained family relationships during the reintegration period. As a key part of rehabilitation, these women are helped to learn new vocations to earn a living. They often receive loans from self-help groups established by their peers to support these efforts to start small businesses.

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India HIV/AIDS Alliance in partnership with SASO, implements the Chanura Kol project in Manipur. Funded by the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Chanura Kol was initiated in 2010 and serves to expand interventions to reduce drug relapse among female injecting drug users. Based on a holistic and sustainable approach, Chanura Kol aims to address the root causes of vulnerability and the primary causes of relapse post-detoxification for women who inject drugs in India’s north-eastern state of Manipur, many of whom are also sex workers. Chanura Kol provides these women with long-term shelter, creates opportunities for income generation outside of sex work, and encourages the rebuilding of family relationships.