Awareness campaign initiated in schools

Islamabad : In continuance of its mission to fighting the war on drugs in Pakistan, the Karim Khan Afridi Welfare Foundation (KKAWF) launched the European Union best practice drug prevention education initiative, ‘Unplugged’ – adapted in Pakistan as ‘Hum Saath Hain,’ at Mashal community school, Bari Imam.

Delivered by KKAWF Board member and education adviser Lubna Hayauddin - a UN certified life-skills trainer - the programme will be participated in by a hundred students and run for twelve weeks, with one session each week. This interactive life skills programme is targeted at 12 to 15 years old students and during the course of the programme they will be exposed to knowledge on drugs and their ill-effects on the physical and social health of the individuals and those who are associated with them. The students will be equipped in skills such as communication, problem solving, critical thinking to handle peer pressure and make wise decisions and raise drug use awareness and understanding to promote healthy behavior. The student participants will receive their completion certificates at a concluding ceremony.

KKAWF plans to continue implementation of the programme among teachers and students in schools across Islamabad and other areas. School teachers will be trained on the ‘Unplugged’ modules and enabled to deliver to more students, which will allow for benefits of the programme to reach more students on a continuous basis.

Speaking at the occasion, , Chairperson KKAWF, Cristina von Sperling Afridi said that drug use is one of the biggest public health challenge we face as it is further putting at risk the young population under thirty years of age to addiction of drugs during the times of the Covid-19 pandemic. She said that last year, hundreds of teenagers had lost their lives and other hundreds of thousands unfortunately have started to use drugs, resulting in this big epidemic in our society. It is imperative that the stigma is broken and prevention is used as a powerful tool to fight the menace of the drug problem.

KKAWF is working since 2015 with rich experience on promoting healthy behavior among youth regarding adverse effects of drug abuse. KKAWF implements its mission by equipping youth with better knowledge and awareness, breaking taboos through prevention education, using its five pillars - arts, sports, environment, healthy lifestyles and civic sense - to build protective factors for youth and engage with them to make healthy life choices and better identify, understand and manage their emotions.