LONELINESS and mental health challenges associated with being single and not having a partner has led to an increase in drug and substance abuse among single and divorced persons in Zimbabwe, a report has gathered.
By Michael Gwarisa
According to 2022 data, Zimbabwe’s divorce rate was estimated to be at least 44.2 percent. However, as a coping strategy and to numb the pain associated with breakups, divorced and single people seem to have found solace in illicit drug and substance use.
A Final Report on Zimbabwe situational analysis of drug use in five provinces that was conducted by the Zimbabwe Civil Liberties and Drug Network (ZCLDN), the National AIDS Council (NAC) and the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) revealed that Divorced people accounted for 40 percent of those who inject drugs in 2022 while single and never married made up 35 percent of those who inject drugs.
In terms of education, less participants who inject drugs seem to have completed secondary school as compared to those not injecting. The first group also seems to be more often single or divorced and less often staying in their parent’s house, but more often having their own house or staying with relatives or friends in comparison to those not injecting,” read part of the report.
Contrary to the belief that highest drug users are the unemployed, the study further that those with steady incomes, self-employed and engaged in occasional jobs constitutes injects drugs the most.
According to the report, those not earning any money accounted for 3,00 percent of those who use drugs while the steady waged/salaried from a legal job accounted for 11.00 percent and the Occasional/odd jobs on the street 42,00 percent.
“Participants injecting substances more often earn money than those who don’t inject; 11.40% of those not injecting reported not to be earning any money, compared to only 3.00% of those who inject. Respondents who are injecting also more often mention sex work as their main source of income in comparison to those not injecting; one third (33.00%) of those injecting receive most of their income from sex work against 6.74% of those who are not injecting drugs.”
Meanwhile, when asked about the main source for acquiring syringes in the past month, proportions varied slightly. Half of the participants who injected drugs predominantly acquired their syringes from their drug dealers (50.00%). For 20.73%, pharmacies were the main source for acquiring syringes. Only 2.44% mentioned health facilities as their main source for acquiring syringes.
Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) participants confirmed that sharing injection equipment is common, even though the risks to HIV transmission are known. Respondents said syringes and needles are often shared between two to four people. The decision whether or not to share equipment mostly depends on (family or friendship) bonds or on physical appearance (“if you don’t look fit, you find your own syringe”). Some FGD participants stated that sharing injection equipment is more prevalent in so-called “ghetto” bases, where access to sterile equipment may be limited, while in “uptown” bases people are said to usually have their own gear.
Respondents explained (ineffective) methods to reduce the risks of sharing, such as waiting eight minutes to use a syringe that has already been used by someone else, or burning a used needle with a lighter to sterilise it.
Many key informants mentioned bluetoothing, a practice whereby blood is taken from someone who has just injected, and then is being injected in another person, in the hope they will receive a small amount of the substance the other person just injected. A few FGD participants mentioned it when discussing other topics, with one of them stating the practice is not as widespread as it used to be. Based on the data collected in this research, no conclusions can be drawn on this phenomenon.
