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Today at the Biltmore these findings were presented to local and international stakeholders. Jomarie Lanza was there and here's her report.

The National Drug Abuse Control Council held a National Stakeholders Consultation this morning with civil society representatives and academia to present a situational analysis on substance abuse amongst adolescents, youth and women in Belize.

The data they analysed extends from 2017 to 2024, and the director for NDACC says that the trends portray a steady and concerning rise of substance misuse within Belize.

Esner Vellos, Director, NDACC
"The National Drug Abuse Control Council, Ministry of Health is very much inclined in ensuring that we have all our stakeholders participate in meaningful discussions. In this particular session we want to ensure that we get the information that is needed so that we will be able to plan effectively and design programs that are geared towards adolescence, children and families, because we believe based on our data that these are the group areas that require a little bit more attention when it comes to substance misuse, particularly when it comes to alcohol consumption, marijuana consumption in the country of Belize. We all know that alcohol consumption does affect a lot of our citizens but as well it also contributes a lot to the deterioration of our social fabric in terms of contributing to domestic violence or to violence in general, the increase of traffic accidents and so forth so it is very important that the ministry of health and NDACC partner with agencies such as UNICEF to ensure that we get the support that is needed and at the same time get the discussion in ensuring that we have these topics discussed by our stakeholders, primarily educational institutions or rehabilitation facilities that we work with as well as social groups and social partners in the country of Belize."

It can also be said that substance misuse is becoming increasingly frequent among young females. Vellos says that this is why they have begun to develop interventions that include more women:

Esner Vellos, Director, NDACC
"One of the things that we at the National Drug Abuse Control Council see on a very regular basis is a lot of the younger population between the ages of 15 and 25 and indeed yes we have seen an increase in consumption among females and that is the reason why NDACC is putting a lot of emphasis in ensuring that we bring this issue into the forefront so that we can discuss it more. One of the things that we look at with the National Drug Abuse Control Council is to increase our program development section so that we will be able to include more women in the conversation and at the same time we will be able to design programs that are catered towards them as part of a holistic approach in ensuring that everybody gets equal opportunities to access these services whether it be treatment or whether it be prevention programs. And indeed one of the things we have been looking at is how we can diversify our programs in ensuring women are taken into consideration when developing these programs but also curtailing the programs that will align to their needs so for example increasing programs that would look at how we can have sowing initiatives that would distract in one way or another our younger women population, invest in cooking programs that would also have a certain level of prevention as well but more important in how we can drive the message to the younger population whether it be a male a youth or whether it be a female youth because at the end of the day it doesn't matter what gender you are what is important is that you are able to access the services that are available which are free within the national drug abuse council and the overall ministry of health services that we have in the primary health services that is available in the country."

Ken Legins the UNICEF representative for Belize spoke more about the importance of NDACC's partnership with UNICEF in reaching youths:

Ken Legins, UNICEF Representative
"What surprised me the most is actually the speech this morning from the president from the NDACC who was saying that we are trying to look for how we can reduce demand of drugs among communities especially among children and adolescence and this really in line with UNICEF's health promotion approach which is to not point fingers but really to work with young people themselves to come up with solutions that help them make healthy choices which doesn't include abusing drugs."

"This is a trend that is not unusual to Belize in that sense but I think what I heard today from the president of NDACC is that they have an approach which they think is scientifically proven to actually reduce demand which is to engage the communities that are effected and to find solutions to give them mentoring and extra out of school activities to give them ideas of what their careers could be in the future rather than to be stagnant and not have things to do and to be engaged, and not to be scolded or yelled at because all of us have been adolescents at one point in our lives and we know the challenges that it Is to be and adolescent and if we actively engage with them that Is really what the science is telling us the best way that young people can make healthy choices."