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Tanzania’s Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Department of Substance Abuse and Prevention in Zanzibar, is partnering with the Great Lakes Addiction Transfer and Technology Center (GLATTC) in Chicago, Illinois, to strengthen ministry and NGO support of substance abuse and HIV prevention programs.

Partners conducted their first training in Zanzibar in January 2009 for 35 peers in recovery, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare’s Department of Substance Abuse and Prevention. Titled “How to Create a Community of Recovery” the workshop focused on the “12 Steps Recovery Model” and the “Islamic Milati,” and was designed to increase capacity to address both HIV and substance abuse in Zanzibar. An early outcome of the training has been increased awareness of and attendance at 12- step programs in the community.

Partners have determined that inter-faith dialogue continues to play an important role in collective efforts to understand both HIV and substance abuse within the local community. In response, partners and Twinning Center staff visited the Muslim Education and Welfare Association (MEWA) in Kenya to gain a greater knowledge of the models they have in place for recovery within the East African context, which is helping to direct future activities as this partnership progresses.