Drug lessons and education programs in developing countries

This collection of essays, based on that experience and with consideration for both the policy and practice issues of a drug abuse prevention program, attempts to answer the questions: What works? How does it work? How can developing countries effectively fight drug abuse? Section I discusses the role of applied research for policy making, program design, and behavioral change. Section II, on training and technology transfer, shows how the NAE project helped counterpart organizations to design their own programs using information gathering techniques such as rapid assessments and small scale surveys. Section III focuses on women and substance abuse in Latin America and the Caribbean. Section IV emphasizes grassroots interventions. Subsections review the Community Promoter Model in northern Mexico, a drug-abuse prevention curriculum for Bolivian high school students, newspapers as teaching materials in Bolivia, students as channels of social mobilization (also in Bolivia), and the experience of Sao Paulo outreach workers with inner-city addicts. Section V reviews communication interventions. The experience of the Anti-Drug Education and Social Mobilization System (SEAMOS) in Bolivia and the use of television miniseries in Brazil and graffiti campaigns in Mexico, Brazil, and Bolivia are discussed. Section VI highlights the integral role the community plays in sustainable drug awareness and prevention projects. The section discusses NAE"s strategy in Bolivia and the development of a national drug abuse prevention plan in Paraguay (an emerging democracy); it includes a more general piece on sustaining international drug awareness and education programs.