Drug treatment in Africa

AFRICA

AMERICAS

ASIA

EUROPE

OCEANIA

PRIMARY DRUG AMONG PERSONS TREATED FOR DRUG PROBLEMS IN AFRICA

2017 (or latest year available)

Country/Territory

Source

Treatment
 year

Distribution of main drugs in percentages*

Treatment
provided**

Data
Primarily
reflect

Cannabis

Opioids

Cocaine

ATS

Tranquillizers
and sedatives

Hallucinogens

Solvents and
inhalants

Other †

Algeria

ARQ

2017

29.7%

           

40.6%

22,444††

 

Botswana

ARQ

2010

100.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

228

 

Burkina Faso

ARQ

2008

58.8%

0.0%

20.6%

20.6%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

65

a,d

Cabo Verde

ARQ

2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

57

 

Central African Republic

ARQ

2017

63.6%

0.0%

0.5%

0.0%

35.9%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

1,103

 

Egypt

ARQ

2007

50.1%

42.7%

0.0%

7.2%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

129,850

a

Eritrea

ARQ

2006

38.5%

11.5%

7.7%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

42.3%

0.0%

26

a

Eswatini

SENDU

2004

92.2%

0.9%

0.9%

0.0%

5.6%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

128

 

Ethiopia

ARQ

2006/2009***

18.8%

18.8%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

62.5%

781

 

Ghana

ARQ

2008

99.1%

0.1%

0.8%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

1,066

a,d

Kenya

ARQ

2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6,455

 

Lesotho

SENDU

2004

100.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

54

d

Madagascar

ARQ

2017

92.7%

7.3%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

324

 

Malawi

SENDU

2004

100.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

796

 

Mauritius

ARQ

2009

19.4%

80.6%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

1,015

 

Morocco

ARQ/Gov.

2017

0.0%

5.1%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

94.9%

6,690†††

k

Mozambique

ARQ

2015

25.4%

70.6%

2.9%

0.2%

0.1%

0.1%

0.7%

0.0%

2,895

b

Namibia

ARQ

2005/2006***

2.4%

2.4%

24.4%

9.8%

61.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

238

 

Niger

ARQ

2006

69.2%

0.0%

0.0%

30.8%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

168

 

Nigeria

ARQ

2017

53.9%

39.4%

3.4%

0.0%

3.4%

 

0.0%

0.0%

917

k

Senegal

ARQ/Gov.

2017

89.0%

6.5%

1.1%

0.5%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

2.9%

3,564††††

k

Seychelles

ARQ

2007

55.0%

45.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

149

a,d

Sudan

ARQ

2014

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

58.8%

41.2%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

34

 

South Africa

ARQ

2017

35.0%

17.3%

3.4%

15.6%

4.2%

0.0%

0.5%

 

19,492††

b,e,f

United Republic of Tanzania

ARQ

2014

0.0%

100.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

1,787

i

Togo

ARQ

2010

100.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

217

 

Tunisia

ARQ

2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4,000

 

Zambia

ARQ

2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

40.6%

3,235

b,c,d,e

Notes

*     Definitions of treatment interventions, recording practices (including counting rules) and methods for determining the primary drug of abuse differ from country to country; percentages may fail to add up to 100 per cent owing to incomplete reporting, gaps in identifying primary drug of abuse and treatment for multiple drugs.**    Figures may reflect number of persons or treatment episodes depending on the Member State; figures exclude alcohol and nicotine. In cases where the total of the reported values by drug type exceeded the reported value for all treatment, the percentages are expressed as a proportion of the total.

***  If multiple years are given, the second year specified is for the number of people treated (second to last column).

†    In addition to miscellaneous and unspecified drugs, the category "Other" includes substances not under international control.

††  Algeria and South Africa:

In these cases there is a big difference between the reported figure for the total number of people in treatment (column ‘Treatment Provided **’) and the sum of the reported figures for each drug group. Information on the nature of this difference is not available.

††† Morocco: Data for 2016 (World Drug Report 2018) represented the total number of people in treatment as of 2016, whereas the current figure refers to the number of people who have entered drug treatment in the year 2017."

†††† Senegal: Data submitted for the category "Other "includes treatment for non-specified substances

Sources

UNODC, Annual Report Questionnaire (ARQ)

Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (SENDU)

Government (Gov.)

Data primarily reflect (codes)

  1. Whole country
  2. Geographically limited reporting (eg the Capital city)
  3. Publicly funded treatment
  4. NGO/ privately funded treatment
  5. Inpatient/ hospitalization modality
  6. Outpatient modality
  7. Limited subpopulation (eg prison, youth, etc)
  8. Opioid substitution treatment (eg methadone)
  9. First-time treatment entrants (not returning clients)
  10. Treatment admissions (not persons)
  11. Partial coverage (geographical/treatment type)
  12. Prisons excluded
  13. Treatment entrants only