NAIROBI, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations anti-drug agency on Monday called on governments to put in place rehabilitation centers for drug addicts.

Gilberto Gerra, chief of the Drug Prevention and Health Branch at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said that lack of access to rehabilitation centers and public health discriminatory attitude toward drug abusers push them to commit the crime.

The centers will help addicts such as street children regain confidence and hence get motivated to feel they are part of society, Gerra told participants at an international conference on drugs demand reduction in Nairobi.

The five-day conference kicked off in Nairobi on Monday, bringing together more than 1,000 delegates across the globe.

Gerra noted that it is important for governments to put in place rehabilitation centers to absorb homeless people as a way of reducing the consumption of drugs.

"Compared with their higher-income counterparts, children growing up in low-income families typically complete less schooling, report worse health, and work and earn less in adulthood," he added.

Gerra said the UN has found out that exposure to poverty in childhood is associated with more mental health problems, adding that people who are exposed to drug trade in urban areas show a tendency of committing the crime since they are in low socio-economic status.

He urged governments to make policies to reduce incidences where the underage group are being forced to take drugs in places where they have been forcefully employed.

"Once the policy is in place, it will help transit countries with fragile institutions manage the increase in consumption in their countries," Gerra added.