Evaluation of opioid substitution therapy in prisons - Pilot study in Kyrgyzstan

The evaluation of the outcome of the pilot Opioid Substitution Therapy programme in Penitentiary Institution No. 47 in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) took place in 2009–2010. The programme’s participants consisted of 84 patients enrolled in methadone maintenance therapy. Assessments were carried out at baseline and after 3 and 6 months. Instruments adopted by WHO, translated into Russian and applied in earlier opioid substitution therapy outcome studies, were used.

They included the Opiate Treatment Index, the World Health Organization Quality of Life–BREF questionnaire, the Bloodborne Virus Transmission Risk Assessment Questionnaire, the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale and others. Results of the study indicate the consistent improvement of health and quality of life among opioid substitution therapy patients, as well as the significant reduction of injecting risk behaviour in relation to transmission of HIV and other bloodborne viruses.