Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC - Ukraine)

Activities of ADIC-Ukraine in alcohol and drug prevention

The idea of ADIC-Ukraine appeared in 1993 as result of the international conference “Alcohol and other drugs problems in rapidly changing socio-economic environments”, which was held in Kiev. Such centers successfully operate in Sri Lanka, Poland and other countries. The idea became real after Konstantin Krasovsky worked in the WHO Regional Office for Europe in 1994. ADIC-Ukraine was founded in 1995 (re-registered by the Ministry of Justice in 1999 as All-Ukrainian charitable foundation).

Alcohol and Drug Information Center (ADIC - Ukraine) is established for the prevention of alcohol and drug related problems by means of:
- documentation of the nature and extent of these problems
- documentation of the possible responses to the problems
- advocacy for the adequate response
- awareness programs geared towards other organizations, opinion leaders and the public
- training of voluntary and professional operators in prevention and intervention work
- issuing of information and training materials.

ADIC-Ukraine is a non-governmental, non-profit, professional organization. It has an independent status in relation to other organizations in Ukraine. ADIC-Ukraine is governed by the Board and executive director. At present it has 4 staff workers and young volunteers, which mainly participate in youth programs.

ADIC-Ukraine cooperates with the World Health Organization, UNICEF and other international organizations, various public, private and voluntary organizations in Ukraine and other countries.

ADIC-Ukraine have issued various books and other informational materials such as
• booklet «Alcohol and drugs in Ukraine» which includes statistics on these problems, governmental programs and lexicon of terms (1995);
• booklet "What I can do to help my children live drug free" (parents guide) (1999);
• booklet "Internet and drug prevention" (1999);
• booklet “What is the cost of ecstasy" (about ecstasy drug) (2000);
• Booklet "Everything you should NOT know about beer if you are going to drink it" (2001);
• Booklet "Straight Edge - youth which chose to be drug free" (2001);
• Booklet "Coffee - a drink or a drug?" (2002).
• Booklet “Why media write on alcohol, tobacco and drugs” (2002).

In 1998 ADIC received grant from the Dutch embassy in Kiev for the project "Materials for Health Care Professionals on Work with Substance Abuse Problems". The project was implemented and 200 pages book is issued.

In 1997-2001 ADIC received grants from Swedish governmental agency SIDA. The project of 1998 was: Involvement of Ukrainian NGOs into alcohol and drug prevention and testing the cost-effective youth prevention model. 5 seminars mainly with representatives of youth NGOs were held in some parts of Ukraine.

The projects being conducted in 1999 were:
• Establishment of information system in Russian on alcohol, drugs and tobacco prevention for organizations in East European countries. The results of this project can be seen at web site: http://adic-ukraine.narod.ru At present this web-site which is called SIR PATIP (System of Information in Russian on Prevention of Alcohol, Tobacco and other Intoxicants Problems) is N 1 among more than 50 Russian language sites on alcohol, drugs and tobacco. Main site has about 100-200 visitors a day.
• Club for clubs (Establishment of system that unites clubs of social active and positive youth in Kiev. During the implementation of the “Club for Clubs” project for social active youth in Kiev some methods of drug prevention among youth were being tested.

In 1998-2001 ADIC-Ukraine conducted 11 seminars for representatives of NGOs, which were highly appreciated by the participants. For each seminar special kit of training materials was developed and those kits became popular and were copied by those who did not attend the seminars. During the seminars various drug prevention methods and programs were discussed and it was revealed that traditional drug prevention is based on adult values and ignores many specific youth problems. Team of ADIC-Ukraine conducted several preliminary working meeting with the invited adolescents to reveal such problems and values of the youth and to develop specific guidelines for such work. This activity was highly appreciated by members of the team and adolescents and there was general feeling that youth problem-oriented approach is needed.

In 2000 ADIC-Ukraine developed its own prevention method, which is called "life situation method". It was tested in more than 100 youth groups and presented at several international conferences. In 2000 ADIC-Ukraine also developed special web-site for teenagers called OpiUM.

In 2002 ADIC-Ukraine conducted project “Building skills of work with media for NGOs dealing with substance abuse prevention in Ukraine and other former Soviet Union countries”.

During the project implementation NGO’s working in alcohol and drug field has got media work skills. Information channels to reach the media to achieve policy aims were created. These skills and channels can be used in advocacy work. Special booklet “Why do media write about alcohol, tobacco and drugs?” was issued in Russian. It is available online http://contacttobinfo.narod.ru/books/media/index.html

The developed approaches to involve media to alcohol, drug and tobacco prevention and public health initiatives were tested at two seminars (one for NGOs and one for journalists). Besides trainers from ADIC-Ukraine, international trainers (from the Netherlands, UK, Moldova and Sweden) were involved for the seminar. Materials for the project booklet were also reviewed by media workers.

Since 2002 ADIC-Ukraine issues electronic newsletter ANTI (Alcohol, Narcotics, Tobacco Information). At the end of 2006 there were 777 subscribers of the ANTI. There were 21 issues and the following ones can be mentioned:

	№ 21 – Abstainers (on social isolation of abstainers and mutual tolerance between drinkers and non-drinkers) – October, 2006
	№ 20 – Alcohol and drugs as main factors of demographic crises in Russia in Ukraine – by Daria Khaltouina, Moscow – June, 2006
	№ 19 - Hangover (sober guidelines after New Year party) – January, 2006.
	№ 17 – Nasvai (about smokeless tobacco product becoming popular in some parts of Former USSR) – April 2005
	№ 15 – Sober chronicle of the Ukrainian revolution (about attitude to alcohol of both sides of winter 2004 events in Ukraine) – November, 2004
	№ 13 – Quality poison (about real toxic substances of alcohol beverages) – July 2003
	№ 10 – Where proponents of alcohol advertising take their arguments (about social organizations of alcohol industry” – January, 2003.

In 2003 ADIC-Ukraine conducted project “Drugs and future children in Ukraine”. During the project implementation materials for counseling and prenatal care services on the ‘substance abuse and reproductive health’ issues were developed and tested. These materials can be used by counseling and prenatal care services. Two booklets “Smoking and health of future children” and “Cot death: how to avoid it (about the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome”) were issued in Russian. These booklets and other materials on the issues are available online http://adic-ukraine.narod.ru/parents. With the World Bank support survey of 700 pregnant women in Kiev was conducted and the results are prepared for publication in scientific journal. UNICEF provided additional funds for the survey and funds for publication of the two manuals. The manuals were distributed not only in Kiev, but in many regions of Ukraine as well in Armenia, Kazakhstan, Georgia and other countries. The project results attracted media attention. During the project implementation we got experience of development of innovative approach to counseling pregnant women. For example, our results reveal that much more attention should be given to the family and not only to a husband, but to a whole actual family as relatives have strong influence on healthy (or unhealthy) behavior of pregnant women. We can recommend medical and social workers to use our booklets and online materials to improve their counseling skills.

In 2005 ADIC-Ukraine have done research on mortality of middle age persons in Ukraine. The conclusion of the research is that in 1987-2002 mortality of 30-44 years old men increased almost twice and alcohol is the main reason of this increase. The brief results are published in the most influential Ukrainian weekly newspaper “Mirror of the week” (http://www.zerkalo-nedeli.com/ie/show/560/50946/).

At present ADIC-Ukraine supports and develops family of web-sites (see http://adic-ukraine.narod.ru) on alcohol, drug and tobacco prevention which have up to 1000 visitors a day.