Drug abuse among youth in Kenya and their attitudes towards community interventions

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to find out how the attitudes of young people can influence the success of community interventions aimed at curbing drug abuse. This study will assess the attitudes of youth towards existing strategies and will be able to determine and identify gaps that are in the existing interventions being used. Through this the community will be able to review the current programmes and initiate additional initiatives to compliment the current ones and also identify additional resources that can be used in the fight against drug abuse According to a rapid assessment done by Dr. Halima Mwenesi in 1996, the awareness of the community needs to be raised through preventive education so that the community can participate more effectively in the control and prevention of substance abuse. The same report also recommends that existing institutions in the community such as schools, churches/mosques and NGO/CBOs can be used as entry points in the fight against drugs. Review of current literature strongly indicates that participatory approaches in community programmes are a necessity for one to achieve successful interventions. As such policy makers and institutions need to involve the youth in the development of strategies aimed at controlling/preventing drug abuse. Besides this, the participation by the youth in programmes that affect their livelihood will definitely empower them by creating a sense of ownership. The findings of this study will be useful in the creatidn and development of strategies to fight drug abuse within th(.\.,community and for the community. We will also be able to find out the young peoples' ideas on desirable interventions and-better strategies for the prevention of drug abuse. This study is an attitudinal study by nature and the main research method used is the survey method by use of semi-structured questionnaires. This will be administered to the sample population in Kibera area of Nairobi. Data will be analysed by use of a statistical software (SPSS 11), which will enable us to come up reliable information and be able to draw conclusions and recommendations of our study.