Baltic Region Healthy Cities Association takes part in the work of Task Group on Alcohol and Drug Prevention within Nordic Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-being (NDPHS). The group is responsible for preparation of flagship project of EU Strategy for Baltic Sea Region. BADY-project tackles the alcohol and drug abuse among youth in BSE.

The primary objective of the project is to develop a tool for assessing community readiness to prevent the use of alcohol and drugs among young people between the ages of 13 and 17. The tool is also to be used to identify which efforts that could further evolve preventive work. The objective is further that the developed instrument will help to enhance the prevention work already conducted by local actors in the region. Perspective and living conditions of youth will also be taken into consideration. The outcome can be viewed upon as a form of “empowerment” towards the prevention work concerning alcohol- and drug use directed at youth in different cities and municipalities.

The work on the project started in Autumn 2010 and will continue toward the submission of the application for funding in Autumn 2011. The Association’s representative’s attended all preparatory meetings, including the most recent held in Tallinn on 20-21th January. Following the initiative of BRHCA, delegates from two Healthy Cities: Jurmala (Latvia) and Pärnu (Estonia) were present. Work Packages and application process were discussed in detail. Association intends to be a leader of the WP ‘’Communication and dissemination of the results’’. The leaders of research Work Packages are: ICSRA - Icelandic Centre for Social Research and Analysis (quantitative research), NVC – Nordic Centre for Welfare and Social Issues (quantitative research) and THL – National Institute for Health and Welfare (community readiness). STAD – Stockholm Prevents Alcohol and Drug Problems, is the Leader and Coordinator of the whole project.

The next meeting will take place in Helsinki in early June. Full partnership and full application shall be presented there.

To read more about partner institutions, please visit their websites:
STAD, Stockholm Prevents Alcohol and Drug Problems, www.stad.org
ICSRA, Icelandic Centre for Social Research and Analysis, www.rannsoknir.is
NVC, Nordic Centre for Welfare and Social Issues www.nordically.org
THL, National Institute for Health and Welfare, www.thl.fi