Substitution Treatment Availability and Utilization

"Since April 2009, prescriptions for methadone and buprenorphine are registered in the Pharmanet-system of the National Health Insurance Institution (NIHDI). Before 2009, this National Registration of Substitution Treatment was hosted by the Belgian Institute for Pharmaco-epidemiology (IFEB /IPhEB). The objective of this registration is to avoid multiple prescriptions and allow warnings among concerned practitioners as requested by the Royal Decree of March 19th 2004. This database contains information from public pharmacies, hospitals pharmacies and specialized centres. Substitution treatments provided in prisons are not included in this database. There is also a lack of information regarding non-residents and people without health insurance. Recently, the Directorate General Inspection of the Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products (FAMHP) was appointed to develop a real-time monitoring system that could serve both epidemiological and administrative objectives.
"Figure 5.11 represents the number of patients undergoing a substitution treatment in 2010, by age category and by substance. Of the 15,395 persons in treatment for methadone, 22.0% were younger than 30, 36.8% were between the ages of 30 and 39, and 41.2% were over the age of 40. Among those in treatment with buprenorphine (n=2,227), 29.6% were under the age of 30, 36.5% were between the ages of 30 and 39, and 33.9% were over the age of 40."