CEMASTEA Alcohol and Drug Abuse (ADA) committee

Why ADA in CEMASTEA?

Alcohol and drug abuse (ADA) Committee is a committee established in line with Government of Kenya requirement with a sole objective of assisting CEMASTEA staff with Substance Use Disorder (SUD).

Relevance

Alcohol and drug abuse (ADA) at the workplace (CEMASTEA) has the ability to negatively affect the health, safety performance and productivity of staff which may result in low output in the organization. For any organization to realize its targets and hence achieve the organizational goals the well-being of its staff is paramount. CEMASTEA is not any different. In view of this CEMASTEA established a committee to deal with Alcohol and Drug Abuse at the workplace. A baseline survey conducted by NACADA in May 2011 showed that usage of alcohol among CEMASTEA staff was at 41.7%, (CEMASTEA, 2011).

A recent Kenyan study, (COHRE Kenya, 2009) indicate that Alcohol and Drug Abuse was associated with 90% of all disciplinary actions, 66% of all absenteeism, half (exact 47%) of all workplace accidents and six (6) times more likelihood of filling fake sick-offs.  The organization’s efficiency is constrained by employee inefficiency, (Randerson, 2007).

The same study found that close to 40 percent of adults aged between 15 and 65 years have used one type of alcohol beverage or another in their lifetime, with huge variations in the types and the rate of consumption across regions, rural-urban residence, age, gender, education level, religion and economic status.  At least 13 percent of people aged 15 to 65 from all provinces in Kenya, except North Eastern, are current consumers of alcohol.

It is therefore important to have ADA committee in any organization committed to achieving its objectives.

Activities

In order to achieve its objectives ADA has committed to do the following activities, which are vetted and under contractual performance for CEMASTEA with the government;

• Undertake independent follow-up survey to establish prevalence of ADA in the institution
• Create awareness of all staff and clients
• Train peer educators to help staff with SUD
• Participate in Public Sector training for ADA prevention for Committee members
• Offer Employee Assistance Program(EAP) focusing on early identification, treatment and rehabilitation of staff with substance use disorder (SUD)

Addiction is a disease just like any other, say malaria. Affected staff should be offered assistance that is due, with an aim to help them attain full recovery.