Getting an Early Start, Kenyan NGO Hosts NDAFW Education Program; International Organizations Invited To Register Events for 2018

More than 250 Kenyan high school students used NIDA “Shatter the Myths” booklets to learn the scientific facts about drug and alcohol use during the Kenyan Living Clean Society’s National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week events.More than 250 Kenyan high school students used NIDA “Shatter the Myths” booklets to learn the scientific facts about drug and alcohol use during the Kenyan Living Clean Society’s National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week events.

The Kenyan Living Clean Society, a nongovernmental organization (NGO), hosted a drug and alcohol education program on August 1, 2017, which drew on National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week (NDAFW) materials. More than 250 high school students used the “Shatter the Myths” booklets to learn the scientific facts about drug and alcohol use. NIDA and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) invite international substance abuse professionals to host events during the NIDA/NIAAA NDAFW, January 22–28, 2018. The international health information program supports locally planned and hosted school and community events that provide teens with scientific facts about drugs and alcohol. These local events use NIDA and NIAAA evidence—and free, downloadable materials—to counteract the myths about drugs and alcohol that teens get from the Internet, social media, TV, movies, music, or from friends. In 2017, drug abuse professionals in 16 nations, many of them former NIDA Hubert H. Humphrey Drug Abuse Research Fellows, held events in conjunction with NDAFW. The first international Chat Day was held in 2017, where a high school in Mexico City joined high schools throughout the United States in submitting online questions about substance abuse to NIDA and NIAAA experts. Other international events included community programs with youth volunteers, school programs, poster contests, lectures, and trainings for health care professionals. For more information, see the NDAFW online guide.