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From Our Own Correspondent: South Africa and Canada

South Africa and Canada

20/09/2013

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, South Africa and Canada

Public (health) menaces: a new drug abused in Soweto; old traumas still scar First Nations

Threats to public health: Will Ross sees the after-effects of a new kind of drug abuse in Soweto; Sian Griffiths learns why old traumas still scar First Nations communities

Two tales of menaces to society, emerging as threats to public health. 

South Africa has a serious drug problem - or really several different regional drug problems - and very little provision for rehab or treatment for addicts. Will Ross sees the after-effects of abusing a new concoction of opiates called "nyaope" on the streets of Soweto, and hears from a former addict how it's ruining lives. Young people's education and prospects are being wrecked, while often users are turning to violent crime to feed their habits. 

On Victoria Island, on the Ottawa River, Sian Griffiths confronts another public-health crisis: the terribly high rates of depression, alcoholism, violence and suicide among Canada's aboriginal communities. The Canadian healthcare system is much admired internationally, but it's a different matter if you live among the First Nations - where the pernicious after-effects of centuries of racism and institutionalised schooling are still being felt.  Now the University of Ottawa's medical school is introducing students to traditional wisdom in an effort to alleviate the lasting ache of these old wounds.

Presenter: Pascale Harter
Producer: Polly Hope

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