Project

UNODC SCHOOL BASED PROGRAMME IN CSJ VOM; Drug Education for School Children.

UNODC SCHOOL BASED PROGRAMME IN CSJ VOM; Drug Education for School Children.

In March 2021, KhiranaHealthcare received the students of St. Joseph’s college Vom (CSJ) on a one day excursion where the students had an exposition on mental health/illness, substance use disorders including a brief pyscho-education and career talk in mental health. Following an interactive session with the school children, they shared their personal experiences from where, we were able to assess their general knowledge about drugs and keeping healthy.

KhiranaHealthcare immediately identified the need to build the capacity of CSJ teachers to respond to emerging drug problems in the school with evidence-based approaches. Consequently, Khirana Healthcare decided to include the school amongst the beneficiaries of the UNODC project on Drug Use, Prevention, Treatment and Care (DPTC), particularly the drug education module for school children.

The training module was delivered in CSJ according to the stipulated guidelines of the UNODC school-based programme, including emphasis on the need for the material to be delivered directly by the teachers to the children, as part of a comprehensive drug prevention programme and the consideration for the adoption of the module into the school curriculum. The training was interactive with both students and teachers actively participating.

As consequence of the training, the school has included the UNODC School based programme into the school curriculum. CSJ Vom has also introduced a drug testing exercise at the beginning of each academic session which has led to an observable decline in the prevalence of experimental substance use and misuse, notable from the results obtained from these tests. The school has also adopted non-punitive measures for handling drug related issues including exploring informed referral pathways to evidence-based treatment (interventions).

As part of a comprehensive approach to ensure that children are guided towards making better informed decisions, Khirana also took the initiative to sensitize the parents of the students of CSJ Vom on DPTC. The objective of this workshop was to increase the knowledge and awareness of the parents on drug related issues, by so doing, enable them identify risk factors outside the control of the children in order to prevent or delay the initiation of drug use.

Khirana intends to replicate the successes recorded in CSJ Vom across all secondary schools in Plateau State, Nigeria and beyond.

Khirana healthcare and Social enterprise is an organization with an ambitious mission: to positively impact the lives of individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa affected by drugs and associated problems. 

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