NDA starts to sensitize pupils on drug use
Jul 05, 2012
Primary school pupils have been told to play an advisory role of reminding their parents to avoid buying drugs from streets or unlicensed pharmacies.
By Brian Mayanja
Primary school pupils have been told to play an advisory role of reminding their parents to avoid buying drugs from streets or unlicensed pharmacies.
The call was made by National Drug Authority (NDA), the body which mandated with the responsibility of ensuring that the population accesses medicines that are of good quality and safe.
NDA said if pupils play the advisory role, it will reduce on the counterfeit or expired drugs that are being sold in the country.
"Our target is to make children responsible, change their parents' attitude towards drug use. Once they are empowered, they will be able to tell their parents to first check on the expiry dates and not to buy from unlicensed pharmacies," Fredrick Ssekyana NDA Public Relations Officer said.
While meeting pupils of City Parents and Nakasero primary school, Ssekyana emphasised that they are equipping them with various information including the right places to get drugs from and signs of genuine drugs.
NDA is currently on a national campaign to educate pupils on how to detect counterfeit drugs. The campaign aims at a raising a generation that is cautious of the dangers of such drugs. NDA officials have so far visited 10 schools interacting with pupils from upper classes.
In recent years NDA has been overwhelmed by the amount of counterfeit drugs in the market. The New Vision partnered with NDA in this campaign and every Wednesday in Mwalimu, an education page, has stories written by pupils from different schools on issues related to drugs.
Julius Baiha, information officer added that by the end of this campaign drive they will have interacted with about 30,000 pupils. He told pupils to first wash their hands before handling drugs.
"Also tell your parents to first read instructions before telling you to take medicine. This will help you not to take over dose. They should always ask for guidance in case they do not understand the instructions written on particular medicine," he explained.