PHOTO FROM THE FIELD (23 JULY 2015) - Paco and Mansour are proud of what they have achieved: Guided by Awa (middle), a volunteer social worker, they have created what they call “their” vegetable garden at the Centre de Prise en Charge Integrée des Addictions de Dakar, or CEPIAD. Paco and Mansour are among fifty former injecting drug users who receive methadone substitution therapy through CEPIAD’s support programs. Among other activities, community meals are organized twice a week at the Center, with fresh salads and vegetables picked from their own micro-garden.

CEPIAD opened one year ago and offers integrated care, treatment and counselling services to people who inject drugs. It is the first facility to offer such integrated services in western and central Africa. It strives to reduce drug use and to improve the physical and mental health of patients, including HIV and hepatitis risk reduction programmes. The Center also helps people to get back to work and to re-integrate into family and social networks.
The Center is the result of the successful collaboration and partnership between the government of Senegal, the National Council for the Fight against AIDS (CNLS), ESTHER, France, UNODC (United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime) and the Global Fund.