12% of Kenyans aged 15 – 65 drink alcohol – Nacada
At least one in every group of eight Kenyans aged 15 – 65 years are using alcohol, a new report has revealed.
According to the National Survey on the Status of Drugs and Substance use in Kenya report that was released on Friday, 12 percent of Kenyans about 15 years drunk alcohol.
This translates to 3,199,119 people.
The five-year survey was conducted from a sample of 3,314 people aged 15-65.
The survey is used as an evaluation tool to asses the effectiveness of drugs and substance use demand and supply reduction programs implemented in the last five years.
From the report, 20 percent of males aged 15 – 65 years (2,511,763) while five percent of females in the same age bracket (687,356) were using alcohol.
Overall, Western region had the highest prevalence of use of alcohol (23.8%) followed by Coast (13.9%) and Central (12.8%).
Western region had the highest prevalence of current use of chang’aa (11.4%) followed by
Nyanza (6.3%) and Rift Valley (3.6%);
Meanwhile the use of Cannabis grew 90 percent in the last five years to December 31,2022.
According to the report, One in every 26 males of the age sampled ((475,770) and 1 in every 333 females (43,037) using cannabis during the period of surgery.
The growing demand of cannabis in the country has been attributed to “the low perception of harm due to myths, misinformation and misconceptions”.
The National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) seeks to scale up “positive parenting” and “strengthening families” programs to moderate risks of early exposure to DSA by children and young adolescents.
Other suggested measures also include leveraging social media and other online platforms to reach the youth, demystify myths and curb misinformation related to alcohol, drugs and substance abuse.