May 6 , 2023
A rehabilitation centre that aims to offer people that suffer from addiction a platform to begin the life-long journey has launched in the Lege Tafo district of the newly formed Sheger City. Renascent Mental Health & Rehabilitation Center rests on 600 sqm of land with an investment capital of over 15 million Br. The founder Solomon Tefera (Prof.) is the sole addiction specialist in the country. He dedicated the centre to his late father who passed from alcohol-related complications four decades ago. Alcohol, khat and opioids are cited as the common addictive substances observed by the psychiatrist with sports betting emerging as a rather new phenomenon. "It’s currently surging," he told Fortune. A typical day for patients from dawn to dusk involves an exercise regimen, a group therapy session, a one-to-one with a psychologist and recreational activities like basketball and tennis. The centre accommodates 25 patients at once for 3,000 Br per day with a three-week to three-month stay advised. A nationwide study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ethiopian Public Health Institute in which Solomon was involved seven years ago had indicated that 20pc of men between the ages of 18 and 65 were consuming levels of alcohol deemed dangerous to health. Close to 16pc were found to be regular consumers of Khat while five percent reported daily use of cannabis and cigarettes. At the launch ceremony, Minister of Health Lia Tadese (MD) said the predisposition of citizens to substance abuse has increased in recent years with large volumes of internal displacement and trauma from conflict. "Future generations are at risk," she said. The wide-reaching social impact of addiction was a sentiment shared by Ergoge Tesfaye (phd), the Minister of Women & Social Affairs who urged a nationwide effort to counterbalance the “tearing of social fabrics that arise from substance abuse”.
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