Factors associated with smoking and transitioning to nyaope injection amongst women in the City of Tshwane Municipality: A self-report by women

Abstract

Background: Substance use disorder has emerged as a key health and social challenge in South Africa (SA). It is projected that about 15% of South African youth, especially young women are prone to engage in drug use and the prospects of coming into contact with nyaope, a highly addictive drug, are higher. Nyaope is mainly smoked, but the prevalence of injecting it is increasing in most regions.Aim: This study aimed to explore and describe the perception of women, who use nyaope, about the factors contributing to nyaope smoking and transitioning to injecting nyaope amongst women in the City of Tshwane Municipality (CoT), Gauteng.Setting: The research was conducted within Community Oriented Substance Use Programme sites across the CoT Municipality.Methods: Qualitative research methods were utilised to explore and describe the perceptions of the participants on factors contributing to the use of nyaope amongst women residing in the CoT. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews and thematically analysed.Results: Intimate partner influence (IPI), peer pressure, being misled by friends, weight loss, lack of effective coping mechanisms and counteracting other drugs contributed to women smoking nyaope. Additionally, a need for an intense high, IPI, influence by the social network, curiosity and cost-effectiveness contributed to women transitioning from smoking to injecting nyaope.Conclusion: The study has established factors contributing to smoking and transition to injecting nyaope as viewed by women residing in the CoT.Contribution: This research affirms that women are influenced by different factors to use and transition to injecting Nyaope.

Exploring the perspectives of community members on use of Nyaope in Tshwane, South Africa

“…9 There is currently more data about crime associated with the use of Nyaope 10 , 11 than on the cooperation between the police and communities in which Nyaope is openly used, cheap and easily accessible. 3 , 22 The distress felt by communities at the insurmountable problem of Nyoape use and the impunity of dealers has led them to find their own solutions, including community assaults and vigilantism.…”

“… 21 There is also mounting evidence of poor social services in general, which is consistent with our data analysis. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 The failure of health and social services to tackle the problem contributes, in turn, to Nyaope-related family and community distress and dysfunctional solutions.…”

“… 3 , 5 , 6 , 17 There have been many types of therapies and attempts to understand the drivers of the phenomenon and to assist users and their families, but current resources and knowledge seem inadequate for sustainable solutions. 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 Over 40% of Nyaope users drop out of rehabilitation, with less than 3% of successful recovery among those who complete their therapy. 23 According to current data, there are insufficient rehabilitation centres in the public sector, while private services are unaffordable for the majority.…”

High risk injection drug use and uptake of HIV prevention and treatment services among people who inject drugs in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

“…Without the availability of widespread interventions, injection drug use has continued to increase in South Africa with a prevalence of 0.6% in a population-based survey in 2012 with 0.2% reporting Whoonga use [36]. More recent studies estimate that up to 15% of South African youth engage in drug use [16,37]. However, small pilot studies have shown high retention rates, opiate reduction, and improvement in mental health in individuals accessing methadone…”

The Impact of Drugs and Substance Abuse on Viral Pathogenesis—A South African Perspective

“…This drug cocktail is commonly referred to as nyaope [17,[34][35][36]39,41,43,44,46,47,52,54,[56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72]. According to prior media reports and studies, this drug cocktail has also been referred to by other names, including whoonga [38,39,41,46,49,52,54,59,[62][63][64]68,70,71,73], wunga [46,62,64], plazana [53], kataza [40,52,68],...…”