Community-based prevention implementation system in Uganda

Uganda is one of the countries in East Africa with an outdated policy on substance use and abuse. The World Health Organization highlights Uganda as a country with hazardous drinking patterns due to the high prevalence of alcohol consumption and heavy episodic and underage drinking. Uganda’s alcohol per capita consumption of 9.8 liters is among the highest in Africa. Research shows that substance use and abuse destroy families and communities; burden productivity and keep children and youth from living up to their fullest potential which ultimately slow the socio-economic development of the country.

Therefore, after community-based prevention and implementation system training through Eagles Youth Development Initiative, we intend to review our intervention to enable us to have an evidence-based intervention for substance use prevention. 

Therefore these key elements to put into consideration;

Community mobilization, including organization staff, young people, school administrators for example St. Mark Primary School among others, parents of villages on Bussi Island, Local council leaders from Village- District levels with multiple interventions will help build their capacity to appreciate the negative impact of substance use and its cost to public health so as to collectively address the problem as a team. I believe this community is an agent of change, the target of change, and the setting for change.

Selecting and adopting appropriate EBI's, for example, School-Based Prevention interventions promoting life skills in preventing substance use targeting children between 11-15 years, Strengthening Family Programmes for socialization, and peer influence on positive behaviors through promoting positive parenting interventions (targeting parents of children 10-15 years) and improving household income, therefore, parents will be mobilized to form village saving groups; these groups will act as a platform for substance use prevention dissemination opportunity using trained community-based facilitators. Youth out of school will be mobilized through sports and youth-friendly activities for example edutainment intervention among others.

Using the available community infrastructures for health workers, law enforcement units, like police, social workers at sub-county and district level, we will be implementing integrated and quality EBIs interventions respecting social and cultural norms.

Sustaining community team and EBI's; by using integrated into for example school activities and mainstreamed into work-related policies to effectively sustain community prevention programme for policy change for example in Uganda, we do have an outdated policy on Substance use. For example conducting advocacy activities with Uganda Alcohol Policy Alliance (UAPA), Uganda Youth Development Link (UYDEL), Makerere School of Public Health, UNODC among others

Before EBI, we shall do or use available data from UNODC, UAPA, MOVENDI, and IOGT among others to determine the age of initiation of substance use in our community for example Early-middle age and factors that increase the likelihood of substance use on the Island around Lake Victoria in Uganda.

We shall continuously review EBI’s for the effectiveness and impact created in the community.