Children of a drug

CHILDREN OF A DRUG By Albert Mwangeka.

The lounge is abuzz with activities with everyone making conversations and others  doing some small talk.

 It is at the rest area of a local Community Based Organization in Kwale county which mainly deals with key populations which include sex workers and injecting drug users. 

The workers and drug users seem to be getting along well may be because one knows they are going to change a person’s life whilst another thinks the community will accept them back when they change their ways. 

However not all feel chitty chatty. A lady almost in her 30s has coiled herself up in sleep because she was up all night. Merida is a sex worker.

‘I do not know how I got pregnant bearing the nature of nature of my job. I can say that this baby has no father. I sell my body for a living in a bush popularly known as ‘Chobingo’ in Kwale. Most of us drug addicts say even 3 months without receiving our periods. This happened several times to me. So once I was sick and taken to hospital and the doctor advised I take a pregnancy test. I knew the results would come out negative but alas,’ explains Merida who is pregnant and at the same time injects drugs.

She continues saying that she does not intend to stop injecting herself because she is an addict. 

Further in case she misses her daily dose she might experience withdrawal symptoms. 

The lady who has been using for 11 years and realized she was HIV positive approximately 10 years ago knows that her her behaviours will affect the foetus and continues to blame it on her addiction. 

‘I do not feel any guilt because if I do not do drugs I might be hospitalized. In case I do not use the baby also gets withdrawal symptoms and it starts kicking. In case I use the baby stops kicking. It is like the drugs offers relieve for both of us. Chances are that my unborn baby will grow up to be an addict just like me. If I do not inject myself I get nauseous. The pregnancy makes the situation worse.’

Athamn Bundo from a Community Based Organization, Kwale County head the Outreach programmes spearheaded by the CBO. 

He says that many injecting drug users can easily disclose their behaviours but are always stubborn when it comes to rehabilitating their ways. 

He adds that he is always challenged when it comes to following up how the users are coping with theie rehabilitation ways. 

Mr. Bundo says that some even default when taking their Anti Retroviral drugs.

‘Merida risks having a baby who will be physically challenged if she continues with her ways. She risks infecting her unborn child with the HIV virus if she does not take the necessary precautions as advised by her doctor. Some of these users also take alcohol and miraa and the toxins found in these drugs can have adverse effects on the baby,’ explains Bundo.

The Head nurse Mombasa County Selina Githinji says that babies exposed to such conditions can be addicts since some amounts of the drugs the mother is using can be traced in their bloodstream. She states that breastfeeding mothers who are also users pass the toxins to their babies via the breast milk and they can become dependent drugs. She adds that those babies tend to cry a lot if their mothers do nor breast feed. She explains that the babies are now addicts and they depend on the breast milk to soothe them and take care of their addiction issues.

Merida says she has a friend was pregnant and still a user. 

She adds  that her friend’s 2 year old is now an addict and when they are hanging out in their drug dens he positions himself near smokers so that the smoke may relieve him of his thirst for drugs.

According to the Ministry of Health Guidelines for comprehensive management of the Health Risk and Consequence of Drug Use 8 out of 10 of injecting drug users have been imprisoned. 

‘I was not a peddler I used to do drugs in Mwembe Tayari area of Mombasa. I am serving a jail term of 10 years after agreeing to the charges laid before me in the Municipal Courts of Mombasa. When I was using drugs I gave birth to twins but one died because of the effect of the drugs I was using. It is hard being a mother and an addict,’ says Ngina from the Shimo la Tewa prison.

A United Nations report says in some countries, such as the US, where injection substance use during pregnancy can result in criminal charges and/or imprisonment and where infants may be taken away from the mother directly after birth , pregnant Injecting Drug User IDU may avoid treatment entry for fear of the repercussions for themselves and their child. Further, where women may assume that because of their pregnancy.

Treatment will necessitate abstinence, they may feel discouraged from seeking treatment services for

fear of withdrawal or inability to quit . 

Despite these potentially inhibiting aspects to pregnancy, there is a good deal of evidence to support the notion that pregnancy can be a substantial motivator for entering treatment. 

For example, one US study of women entering treatment found that pregnant women were four times as likely as non-pregnant women to express a desire for treatment.