Declaring that alcohol and tobacco use remains a major public health problem in Guyana, Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony said a comprehensive approach is needed to tackle the use of illicit drugs and the abuse of alcohol.
With an increasing number of young people consuming alcohol and using e-cigarettes and vaping products, the Health Minister said it was time to ramp up sensitization, particularly among school-aged children, on the dangers of using such products.
He made the comments this morning while speaking at a ceremony in observance of International Day against Illicit Trafficking and Drug Abuse.
“I think the logical place for us to go, is to go into schools, to talk to school children. Probably, with that type of education, we are hoping that they would change behaviour. But for a lot of people in public health, you would know that raising awareness alone does not change behaviour. Behavior modification comes in a different way, apart from raising the value of education, you also have to practice, and that is more important because of time, we raise awareness and these programmes fail because we have not gone through the cycle of inculcating what they’ve learned into that change that we want to see,” the Health Minister reasoned.
Given the challenges faced on the ground, Dr. Anthony underscored the need for educational information on dangers of substance abuse and the effects on the human body to be incorporated into school’s curriculum such as the Healthy Family Life Programme.
He said though the Education Ministry has long partnered with the Ministry of Health in combating Drug and Alcohol use among minors, there is room for improvement. He said too that greater attention must also be placed on early school leavers.
“The other thing is, we have a population of young people who have dropped out of school and we have to find a way of working with them because in many ways, they are more vulnerable. For those who drop out of school, we have to find a way of how to reach them, and work with them. I don’t think we have all the answers, and I know we have been working with some of them, trying to bring them back, trying to give them a second chance at education by giving them some practical skills, but we also need to figure out how could we work with them to given this kind of education and guide them away from substance abuse,” he reasoned.
The Health Minister said the community must do more to protect the nation’s children and young people, and speak out against “dealers.”
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