2013 Regional Report on the Drug Situation in Central Asia
6.3 Prevention The process of the formation of the life skills of responsible behaviour among adolescents and young people in the country is entrusted to the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Youth, which, together with non-governmental organisations (henceforth NGOs), implement the National Programme of the Kyrgyz Republic to combat drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking and state programme for the prevention of HIV infection and its socio-economic consequences in the Kyrgyz Republic for 2006–2011. Moreover, comprehensive measures aimed at the prevention of HIV infection and drug use among adolescents and young people were carried out (2) . The Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic has implemented the “Healthy Generation” project with the support of international organisations. In 2011, the project conducted 3 training seminars for teachers of secondary schools and institutions of higher education in order to train them in the techniques of forming and maintaining a healthy way of life for adolescents and young adults. A summer camp was held for students of pedagogical institutions of higher education in order to teach them the innovative technologies and interactive methods of training on the prevention of HIV infection and drug addiction (3). An electronic interactive course on “Improving knowledge on HIV and AIDS” for education specialists was designed and 1,000 copies were printed. Within the framework of the UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) FAST “Family and School Together” programme, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic developed a National Concept of the “prevention of drug abuse, HIV, AIDS, and crime among young people through training in family life skills programmes”. Together with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, a Kyrgyz-Finnish pilot project for the prevention of tobacco use among school students was implemented in the schools of the Chui oblast. Since 2009, the Ministry of Education of the Kyrgyz Republic, in collaboration with UNFPA (United Nations Fund for Population) and the “White Crane” NGO with the support of Mentor (England), has implemented a curriculum for the prevention of drug use, “Your Choice”, which consisted of 12 lessons and was based on the development of life skills and social impacts and was focused on students aged 12–14 years. In 2011, the governmental, international, and non-governmental organisations conducted mass events and activities aimed at raising awareness among adolescents and young people about the negative consequences of drug use, developing the life skills of responsible behaviour, and promoting a healthy lifestyle: • Information tours “HIV: act responsibly”; • programme “Security route”’ • photographic exhibition “Drug-killer”; • event “Dance for life”. • F or the students of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a training course was introduced on the legal aspects of overcoming HIV infection, drug issues, and reduction of the harm resulting from drug use, for which a teaching manual, “The legal basis of the theory and practice of harm reduction”, was developed. • In 2011 a month of the World Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking was held. The program of the month was organised and held as follows: • parliamentary hearings on “Legal Issues in Drug Policy and HIV in the Kyrgyz Republic”; • educational seminars and training sessions for inspectors of the MDIA (Main Department of Internal Affairs) in Bishkek concerning work with children from risk groups; • informational and educational activities (lectures, discussions, workshops) to promote a healthy lifestyle for teachers, parents, and students of higher educational institutions; • events “No Drugs”, “I choose life”, sports events, concerts, KVN (Club of Cheerful and Witty People), including institutions of the penal system of the State Penitentiary Service of the Kyrgyz Republic. The Ministry of Health, represented by the National Addiction Centre and together with the Ministry of Education of the Kyrgyz Republic, has a number of preventive measures in the format of seminars, lectures, workshops, meetings, discussions, and events among students and school activists, in secondary and higher educational institutions, with the teaching staff of educational institutions, including health care workers working with the population, with employees of the House Committee, municipal governments, among educators, social care, justice, and law enforcement officers, and the judicial department and local authorities, including police officers, teachers, health workers, and psychologists working at the Centre for Rehabilitation and Adaptation.
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