Vocational rehabilitation and employment program support recovering drug users in Hai Phong city

Monday, June 29, 2009

HAI PHONG, Vietnam, June 29, 2009 - A stakeholder workshop to support the vocational rehabilitation and employment program for recovering drug users took place in Hai Phong today. This workshop was organized by Hai Phong City People's Committee in cooperation with the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), UNAIDS, USAID, Family Health International (FHI) and Chemonics International.

"The vocational rehabilitation and employment program for recovering drug users is an economic development program", said Mr. Hoang Van Ke, Vice Chairman of Hai Phong City People's Committee "Underpinned by appropriate psychosocial and vocational supports, this multi-sectoral program aims to create opportunities for recovering drug users to find meaningful employment that matches their individual capacity and preferences as well as local market demands."

This vocational rehabilitation and employment program is a new component of the existing comprehensive PEPFAR/USAID-funded HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment program jointly developed by Hai Phong City People's Committee, FHI and Chemonics International. It focuses on vocational rehabilitation and employment activities that will help unemployed methadone patients and members of the recovering support group program find long-term employment. 

Over the past 10 years, Hai Phong has been a leader in developing evidence based responses to drug use, particularly in establishing methadone maintenance therapy as the first line therapy for people who are dependent on heroin. While drug treatment helps many people regain control of their lives, finding meaningful employment when they have stopped using drugs has been a challenge for most of them. A study by Mcintosh et al. (2008) showed that clients who attended drug treatment programs that offered vocational rehabilitation were 3 times more likely to gain employment than those who attended drug treatment alone. Those who gained employment were also 1.5 times more likely not to use drugs when compared with their un-employment counterparts. The focus of the program is to create a partnership between the clients, employers, and local government that aims to ensure the provision of a complete package of services to everyone involved in the project.  This workshop provided a forum for local organizations to finds ways to work together to support the program and benefit from the program.

 This workshop was well attended by leaders from the National Committee of Drugs, Prostitution and HIV Prevention and Control, People's Committees of Hai Phong City and key districts as well as representatives from the Ministry and Department of Labour Invalids and Social Affairs, Department of Planning and Investment, Hai Phong City's Labour Union, Hai Phong City's Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI). Representatives from a number of enterprises, vocational training schools and mass organizations such as Farmers', Youth and Women's unions as well as international organizations and programs, including the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Chemonics International also actively participated. 

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