Author(s): Monicah Wanjiku Njoroge*
Services for mental and substance use disorders have typically been neglected, and in many countries segregated from mainstream health care with resources allocated not commensurate with the burden. The attention given to mental and substance use disorders cannot be compared to other diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Cancer, and Diabetes among others. Mental and substance use disorders account to about 7.4% of disease burden worldwide. These disorders are responsible for more of the global burden than HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, diabetes, or transport injuries. The increasing number of cases of SUDs globally presents a public health challenge that requires effective evidence based interventions. One of the major challenges is inadequate treatment for SUDs which mostly plague developing countries. It may be difficult to measure the efficacy of treatment as a result of unique patient characteristics that contribute to person’s treatment experience. Care factors such as duration of treatment and length of stay have been studied as having influence on the outcome of treatment. Others include patient and environmental factors. Globally, poor treatment outcomes mostly reported include dropout rates as high as 90%; relapse rates as high as 91% and high after treatment mortality rates. Research findings have identified many evidence-based treatment strategies for managing substance use disorders, nevertheless there is a gap that continues to exist, that of a lack of success of effective interventions to be spread and implemented so as to improve the lives of those affected. Other studies have also reported these differences in the outcomes and effectiveness of treatment of substance use disorders. There is need for enhanced interventional research that aims at providing an overview of conceptual issues relating to factors that influence treatment outcomes and identifying gaps and directions for improving treatment and treatment outcomes. The fundamental objective of enhanced research in substance use treatment is to reduce the increasing prevalence rates of substance use disorders.
