Conference on Drug Use and Dependence in East Africa

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed Conference on Drug Use and Dependence in East Africa will gather scientists, practitioners, policy makers and community organizations from different disciplines and countries to exchange progress on work in improving the health of urban populations and to foster cooperation among urban health stakeholders in improving policies and interventions for tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use (especially illegal or other nonmedical drug use). The conference will take place in Nairobi, Kenya in coordination with the overall Eighth International Conference on Urban Health, separately supported by the Gates Foundation and others. We propose to draw attention to current NIDA research developments in relation to tobacco and other drug involvement in urban environments and populations, with a focus upon applied aspects of NIDA's research portfolio, in an effort to showcase potentially internationally applicable models of research-to-practice collaborations for urban settings. As such, we are requesting approximately $30,000 of the total cost of the conference (~$1,400,000), which will support the following components of the proposed NIDA-sponsored conference track: (1) Support for plenary sessions with internationally recognized plenary speakers (e.g., NIDA PIs) during the conference, (2) Support for pre- and post-doctoral research trainee registration, (3) Non-plenary parallel or concurrent sessions on focused on NIDA-pertinent research, (4) Poster sessions focused on NIDA-pertinent research, (5) Publication of a supplement of the Journal of Urban Health that will include featured articles and poster abstracts on this NIDA-pertinent research, to be edited by J. Anthony &D. Vlahov. By holding this conference in Nairobi, one of the leading cities in the world, we intend to foster international research collaborations that seek a collective improvement of our understanding of the common health risks faced by urban residents and to influence the development of effective public health interventions across the globe. Perspectives and lessons from different countries can be valuable to share. We have now held seven prior conferences that have been well attended and look forward to continuing this series. A concentration or conference track on drug abuse has been present in earlier meetings and is a critical part of this effort. This type of track seeks to foster interdisciplinary collaborations among NIDA-oriented researchers who are interested in how urban settings influence drug involvement, including geographic and social structural features of urban settings that may serve as modifiable 'causes of incidence'of drug problems. Dissemination of evidence presented at the conference will come in the form of published abstracts and papers in the Journal of Urban Health;press conferences with radio, newspaper, television;and press interviews with key speakers.