Drug use and harm reduction in Afghanistan

93% of the world opium is produced in Afghanistan and, there were, in 2009, 1 500 000 drug users in the country. Furthermore, the pattern of drug use in Afghanistan has been changing from smoking to injecting. Kabul, the capital, is home to 50 % of the country’s heroin users (around 20000 people according to UNODC in 2009).

Médecins du Monde (an international humanitarian Non-Governmental Organization) has been active in Afghanistan for the past 24 years in the implementation of different health programs. Since 2006, MDM focuses on prevention, care and treatment for (injecting) drug users, known as the highest risk group regarding HIV/AIDS in the country.
The Afghan Ministry of Public Health and MdM started a pilot program for opioid substitution therapy and the first 10 persons received methadone in February 2010.

This slideshow compiles testimonies of patients under methadone therapy. The photographs were taken by Sandra Calligaro. Ms. Calligaro is a French photographer born in 1981, working in Afghanistan for the last 4 years and collaborating with international media and NGOs.