(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Against the backdrop of reported alarming growth in the mis-use of illegal substance such as marijuana, alcohol, cocaine and alcohol, most obvious among teenagers, in Belize, the National Drug Abuse Control Council (NDAAC) of Belize has decided to take matters in its hands to strengthen that country’s capacity to fight drug abuse and also to provide rehabilitation facilities with standards of care for drug users in a bid to reduce the demand for illicit drugs.
To this end, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat at the request of the Ministry of Health as the line Ministry under which the Council falls, has harnessed a team of experts comprising technical officers from the CARICOM Secretariat and Members of the Technical Advisory Body for the Regional Drug Demand Reduction Strategy to provide in-country technical support to the Belize NDACC in the areas of institutional strengthening and primary drug prevention including prevention education.
The Ministry of Health, along with the NDACC is presently undergoing a restructuring process in the areas of Administration, Human Resources, Programme Coordination Research and Information and Public Relations. The team is expected to arrive in Belize on 7 July and will launch into its three day work programme in which it is expected to assist the NDACC in identifying a more strategic approach to drug demand reduction through several initiatives including strengthening the drug prevention education programmes; strengthening the Multilateral and Evaluation Mechanism; strengthening treatment and rehabilitation programmes for substance abusers and improving local capacity to provide treatment and care for substance abusers. The Ministry of Health is expected to chart the way forward in ensuring sustained national capacity building in Drug Demand Reduction.
The team will also meet with stakeholders at the policy and technical levels to sensitize on regional initiatives in primary prevention and developments in treating with street and homeless drug addicts.
Belize is one of several CARICOM countries which are targeted for in-country technical support in drug rehabilitation and prevention initiatives under the 9th EDF Caribbean Integration Support Programme (CISP). This is a sequel to comprehensive training interventions provided to Member States in several critical areas including the development of minimum standards of care for substance abusers, the development of national anti-drug strategies and street base intervention targeting substance abusers.
