For over two decades one of USAID’s local partners in Burma, has operated a charity clinic in Burma’s Kachin State, an ethnic state that borders China. In this region, a heroin epidemic rages. Amidst extensive drug use in Kachin, exacerbated by complex factors including conflict and generational poverty, community members come to the rehabilitation center to receive detoxification and medical support services to stop using drugs which can change their lives. With strong trust from diverse communities within Kachin State and a deep understanding of the local context, the partner takes a community-based approach to drug use prevention and rehabilitation with support from USAID. Below are three recent examples of how their locally-led, holistic efforts are improving access to healthcare for those who use drugs and helping  communities make healthy choices. 

1. Gender-inclusive home care: Women who use drugs face additional stigma and discrimination, which can discourage seeking care. Often, these same women are also the main caregivers to young children or older people at home, constraining their ability to participate in rehabilitation programs. Recognizing these additional pressures, the partner launched a 90-day rehabilitation program specifically for women who use drugs. The specialized home care provides a safe environment for participants to receive medical care to relieve withdrawal symptoms, nutritional support, and counseling. Female volunteers also keep in close contact with participants to understand drug use triggers at home, provide psychosocial support to help avoid relapse, and help them to strengthen relationships with their families and communities.
    

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   Training the trainers: While the local partner has strong ties in numerous communities across Kachin, they sought to expand their reach to support new stakeholders. Recently, the organization  recruited 20 volunteers from communities where they have not yet worked–volunteers already known and trusted by their villages–to participate in a drug use prevention training. The four-day training supported volunteers to gain skills in helping to prevent drug use within families. These volunteers will eventually lead the training in their villages to raise awareness amongst families, ultimately supporting a more sustainable, locally-led drug use prevention plan.
    

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   Sports to stop stigma: On June 26, the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, the local partner organized a district-level football competition, recruiting over 20 football clubs to sign up. The event brought together new local stakeholders including cultural organizations, faith-based organizations, private sector and community-based civil society organizations. The friendly competition provided the organization  with the perfect platform to introduce their drug prevention work.

Leveraging local knowledge and networks to address drug addiction-related issues within Kachin communities is essential for effective, sustainable drug prevention and rehabilitation. With this understanding, the partner’s work is, in the words of the charity clinic’s executive director, “well planned for [a] self sustaining project” long after the activity supported by USAID comes to a close.”