FIJI: Funds allocated to tackle youth drug use
Updated
Fiji's peak substance abuse body has welcomed an increase in budget allocation by the government, and says it may signal a positive change for the government on the issue.
Presenter: Bo Hill
Speakers: Misaele Driubalavu, director of Fiji's National Substance Abuse Advisory Council, Hassan Khan, executive director of the Fiji Council of Social Services.
HILL: This week has seen two windfalls for Fiji's National Substance Abuse Advisory Council; a 25 per cent increase in funding from the government, and a 100-thousand Fiji dollar boost from the internationally funded Pacific Education Project, PRIDE(?). The Director of the Council, Misaele Driubalavu has welcomed the extra money.
DRIUBALAVU: We have received 100-thousand dollars from PRIDE project and we are very grateful for New Zealand aid, ... for that financial support. It will greatly help us in our work, and we have just recently learnt that we have had an increase in our funding in our unit here.\
HILL: At the handover of the grant from PRIDE on Tuesday, PRIDE's acting project director quoted a Fiji education ministry survey which shows about two-thirds of school students have tried kava, more than half have tried tobacco and 36 per cent of teenagers who've tried marijuana are now high-risk users.
The 2004 survey which was released earlier this year was the first of its kind, and PRIDE's acting project director said the results were surprising. The director of the Suva-based Fiji council of Social Services, Hassan Khan disagrees.
KHAN: I am absolutely not surprised because we have been saying this for 20 years now and the fact that he's surprised is because he's probably one of those people who have been having their head buried in the sand. And it was the civil servants who refused to entertain anything from the civil society organisation when we highlighted these things since 1987.
HILL: A World Health Organisation report into the cost of health issues for Fiji led to the formation of the National Substance Abuse Advisory Council in 1999. In the intervening years Mr Khan says he's gathered anecdotal evidence from school teachers and parents, as well as police reports on drug offences that show the problem of substance abuse has become much worse.
But he says the education ministry's student survey, last year's senate report into the issue and the budget allocation increase for the council for the next financial year may signal a new approach by policy makers.
KHAN: Absolutely, absolutely because of course this is not only a small step, the ground is small, but I think it's a major breakthrough in bringing about a realisation to the economic planners that no matter how much economically you can advance your productivity and quality will be negated if the country's addicted to drugs and substance abuse. But it is the children, there was that survey or research done by the Fiji School of Medicine which said that the government spent over 300-million dollars in looking after people with tobacco addiction, so it would be better to do some prevention programs.
HILL: The council was promised three-quarters of a million dollars a year for its activities when it was formed in 1999. Since then however it has received an annual budget of 150-thousand dollars. The 25 per cent increase for next year, says Hassan Khan, can be stretched if programs are planned properly. For the council's director Misaele Driubalavu any increase is good.
HILL: How far does 200-thousand dollars go for you?
DRIUBALAVU: Well at least there's some increase, you know like any other government department or unit we're all fighting, all wanting an increase. But for us we are satisfied with that small increase, it will help.
