Naeem Aslam.
COVID 19 and Individuals with Substance Use Disorder: Challenges to the Treatment Centers in Pakistan.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;14(2):483-483.

The COVID-19 pandemic posed a profound impact on global public health. Substantial literature is available about the maladies laid by COVID 19 on physical and psychological wellbeing. However, there is a paucity of literature that demonstrated the effect of this pandemic on patients with substance use disorder (SUD).Substance use is a massive global problem. There are almost 31 million individuals worldwide who suffer from substance use disorder. 1 In Pakistan, the problem of substance abuse is even more severe. Approximately 6.7 million people are regular users of various substances (cannabis, heroin, and opium, etc.) including misuse of prescribed drugs. 2 Pakistan had been known as the "highHeroin-Addicted Country" in 2014.3 For the past few years, drastic rises of various illegal and illicit drugs have been witnessed. In Pakistan, many government and private treatment and rehabilitation facilities are working to intervene in the drug related issue. These treatment facilities are trying to treat the patients and lessen the patient`s burden. Mostly, the private organizations are providing the drug abuse treatment services, after the onset of COVID 19 and lockdown restrictions, the available treatment services got severely affected.4

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