solvent-abuse-pakistan

Section three
Results show that a large number of
children interviewed had no permanent place
to live/sleep and had been drifting around
various places. It was interesting to note that
all such children never spend nights alone, but
had been sleeping in the company of other
street children, and stay in groups. The groups
are usually of a large size (60% of the children
have reported sleeping at places where more
than 10 children are present). Only 8% of the
children have been sleeping in a group of less
than 5 children. A group leader, who is usually
an elder, either the strongest boy or the one
who owns the place, almost always controls
the group.
Children under focus groups shared their
feeling of dismay by pointing towards the
ambience around them as disconsolate.
According to them jungle rules prevail, as the
one who is mighty or superior (in any form)
surmounted others. Children were of the
opinion that living in open places gives rise to
the feeling of insecurity and they remain
vulnerable to abuse, which extends from
verbal to physical and even sexual. The main
fears reported by the younger children were of
sexual assault from the elder boys, while the
elder children themselves were concerned
about physical dangers. The majority of
younger children informed that they were at an
absolute loss to enjoy a sound sleep, as they
are in constant state of anxiety from all the
exposed dangers, which is not only from
nature but more from their own kind. The
formation of groups and the need to stay
together could be explained in the light of this
as well as the fact that being human beings,
and for need fulfilment, they had to live
together and became a part of group. Being a
part of group they perform all the rituals and
meet institutionalised norms of the group; the
finding is well supported by several
researches conducted on personality
,
development . This is an extremely important
point, which needs consideration and can be
utilized when preventive packages are
formulated for these children.
3.3 Medical & Health
problems
Evaluation of the medical status had shown
that 55% of the children complained of at least
one medical problem that they were facing
currently. The major problems reported were
Respiratory Tract Infection (30%), followed by
Fever (19.7%), GIT upsets (18.7%) and Skin
Infections (12.6%). Other complaints included
Headaches, Generalized Myalgias,
Weakness, Eye Infections etc.
Among those who complained of prevailing
illness, 47% had sought medical treatment. Of
the remaining 53%, the lead reason reported
for not seeing a doctor was lack of finances
(39%). Other important reasons reported were
a fear of injection (20%), don't know a doctor
(9.8%), don't want to go because doctors are
not cooperative with them (9.9%) and self
treatment (3.3%). The health seeking
behaviour needs to be considered when any
primary health care interventions are designed
for this group.
3.4 Solvent Abuse
3.4.1 Substance abused
The use of various solvents by the
respondents is in conformity with what is seen
12-14,17
internationally. Adhesive glues is the
primary drug of choice consumed by 90%
(374) of the interviewed street children. This
feature has been found to be uniformly
distributed across all the four cities from where
data were collected. A high proportion of
samples reported use of other solvents as
well, including petrol (25.5%) and thinners
(10.6%). Slight differences were noticed in the
use of these secondary solvents across cities.
The use of Petrol along with adhesive glues
was significantly popular in Quetta (43%) and
Peshawar (41%), while the practice was
almost negligible in Lahore, where only 7
children reported the adjunct use of petrol
along with adhesive glues. As a matter of fact,
a significant proportion of children found in
Peshawar were involved in the use of petrol
alone (26%), without getting involved with the
use of adhesive glues. Karachi has reported a
more complicated picture, where children have
been found to be involved with multiple
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