The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Afghanistan stated in a recent report that it has signed an agreement with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime(UNODC) to provide essential medicines and medical supplies for drug treatment.
“Through the 2 M USD partnership, UNDP and UNODC will jointly support the provision of essential medicine, equipment, and hygiene kits to 17 drug treatment centers across the country with a 930-bed capacity across the north, west, east, and central highland regions,” the report reads.
Meanwhile, Mullah Abdul Salam Hanafi, the second deputy prime minister, said that there are five million drug addicts in Afghanistan in the “Government Accountability Program for the Nation.”
Hanafi noted that during the past few years, around a million Afghan women and children have become drug addicts.
“20 years ago, we had around 50 or 100 drug addicts, but today, sadly, they (the previous government) have made over 5 million people in Afghanistan addicted, and about a million of those are women and children,” Hanafi stated.
The counter-narcotics department of the interior ministry welcomed the help of the United Nations Development Program.
“This procedure is successful. They assured us that they would support us. We appreciate their positive action,” the department’s deputy Abdulhaq Hamkar said.
A large facility will be built in Kabul to treat drug addicts, according to the interior ministry’s counter-narcotics department, and construction is already under way.
