Addiction hotline served 82,000 patients in 2016

CAIRO – 7 June 2017: 82,000 patients benefited last year from Egypt’s drug addiction hotline, 16024, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported the head of the Egyptian Fund for Drug Control and Addiction Treatment, Amr Othman, as saying Wednesday.

The services provide free treatment and counseling sessions. The fund is also launching a new initiative called “New Beginning,” in collaboration with Nasser Social Bank, to grant loans for recovered patients to start small projects.

Othman added that more rehabilitation centers providing free addiction treatment are under construction. Two centers in Sharkeya and Dakahleya governorates will be inaugurated soon, he added.

The fund is cooperating with Mentor Institute, a leading international non-governmental organization for drug abuse prevention. The fund also plans to launch several awareness campaigns, and a competition was held recently for the production of anti-drug awareness movies.

According to a 2014 study by CAPMAS, 10 percent of the population uses drugs, which is double the global rate, but only 2.5 percent are drug addicts, which is on par with the global rate. Twenty-seven percent of drug users and addicts are women.