{"id":18838,"date":"2025-03-15T17:59:26","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T16:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=18838"},"modified":"2025-05-20T19:12:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T18:12:56","slug":"the-burden-of-unlawful-use-of-opioid-and-associated-epidemiological-characteristics-in-africa-a-scoping-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2025\/03\/the-burden-of-unlawful-use-of-opioid-and-associated-epidemiological-characteristics-in-africa-a-scoping-review\/","title":{"rendered":"The burden of unlawful use of opioid and associated epidemiological characteristics in Africa: A scoping review"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Professor Onohuean Hope<\/strong>; Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Kampala International University, Uganda, and Professor Frasia Oosthuizen<\/strong> who holds a BPharm, MSc (Pharmacology) and PhD (Pharmacology) qualifications, all obtained from PU for CHE (now North-West University). Published: March 7, 2025 in the journal PLOS One<\/b><\/i>\u00a0(stylized\u00a0PLOS ONE<\/b><\/i>, and formerly\u00a0PLoS ONE<\/i>) is a\u00a0peer-reviewed\u00a0open access\u00a0mega journal\u00a0published by the\u00a0Public Library of Science\u00a0(PLOS) since 2006.<\/p>\n

Published: March 7, 2025<\/p>\n

ABSTRACT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong>
\nThere is an ongoing global upsurge of opioid misuse, fatal overdose and other related
\ndisorders, significantly affecting the African continent, due to resource-limited settings and
\npoor epidemiological surveillance systems. This scoping review maps scientific evidence
\non epidemiological data on unlawful opioid use to identify knowledge gaps and policy
\nshortcomings.<\/p>\n

Method<\/strong>
\nThe databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Sciences) and references were searched
\nguided by Population, Concept, and Context (PCC) and PRISMA-ScR. The extracted
\ncharacteristics examined were author\/year, African country, epidemiological distribution,
\nage group (year), gender, study design and setting, common opioid\/s abused, sources of
\ndrugs, reasons for misuse, summary outcomes and future engagement.<\/p>\n

Results<\/strong>
\nA population of 55132 participated in the included studies of 68 articles, with the
\nlargest sample size of 17260 (31.31%) in a study done in South Africa, 11281(20.46%)
\nin a study from Egypt and 4068 (7.38%) in a study from Ethiopia. The gender of the
\nparticipants was indicated in 65(95.59%) papers. The mean and median age reported
\nin 57(83.82%) papers were 15.9-38, and 22-31years. The majority of study-designs
\nwere cross-sectional, 44(64.71%), and the most used opioids were heroin, 14articles
\n(20.59%), tramadol, 8articles (11.76%), and tramadol & heroin, 6 articles (8.82%)
\narticles. Study-settings included urban community 15(22.06%), hospital 15(22.06%),
\nuniversity students 11(16.18%), and secondary school learners 6(8.82%). The highest
\nepidemiological distributions were recorded in the South African study, 19615(35.60%),
\nEgyptian study, 14627(26.54%), and Nigerian study 5895(10.70%). Nine (13.24%)
\npapers reported major opioid sources as black market, friends, and drug dealers. To
\nrelieve stress, physical pain and premature ejaculation, improve mood and sleep-related
\nPLOS ONE | https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0317036 March 7, 2025 2 \/ 24
\nPLOS ONE The burden of unlawful use of opioid and associated epidemiological characteristics in Africa
\nproblems and help to continue work, were the major reasons for taking these drugs as
\nreported in twenty articles (29.41%).<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong>
\nThe findings of this scoping review show significant knowledge gaps on opioid usage in
\nthe African continent. The epidemiological distribution of unlawful use of opioids among
\nyoung adults, drivers, and manual labourers in both genders is evident in the findings.
\nThe reason for use necessity scrutinises the role of social interaction, friends and family
\ninfluence on illicit opiate use. Therefore, there is a need for regular epidemiological
\nsurveillance and investigations into multilevel, value-based, comprehensive, and strategic
\nlong-term intervention plans to curb the opioid problem in the region.<\/p>\n

To access the full document, please click on the link below:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0317036<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Professor Onohuean Hope; Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Kampala International University, Uganda, and Professor Frasia Oosthuizen who holds a BPharm, MSc (Pharmacology) and PhD (Pharmacology) qualifications, all obtained from PU for CHE (now North-West University). Published: March 7, 2025 in the journal PLOS One\u00a0(stylized\u00a0PLOS ONE, and formerly\u00a0PLoS ONE) is a\u00a0peer-reviewed\u00a0open access\u00a0mega journal\u00a0published by the\u00a0Public […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,68,135,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-addiction","category-drug-use-various-effects","category-opioids","category-others"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18838\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}