UNODC launches third drug demand reduction expert network in Africa

Cairo, Egypt, 12 October – Only two months after the creation of the West African Drug Demand Reduction Expert Network in Dakar, Senegal, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is establishing a new tegional network in North Africa for research and programming. The Local Expert Network for North Africa, or LENnorth, will be officially launched in Cairo at the Sheraton Hotel during a three-day regional meeting from 12 to 14 October 2003, hosted by the UNODC Regional Office for North Africa and the Middle East.

LENnorth is comprised of highly qualified drug demand reduction experts from six countries in the subregion (Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Sudan), who bring varied backgrounds and expertise in the fields of drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation, drug abuse prevention, integrated drug abuse and HIV/AIDS prevention. LENnorth is the third network of this kind being established in Africa by UNODC following a successful pilot project in Eastern Africa.

The networks are designed to strengthen UNODC’s collaboration with local experts and to improve best practices and information exchange in the field of drug demand reduction in Africa. Members of the network are independent experts drawn from governmental institutions, NGOs, universities, hospitals, etc, who participate on a voluntary basis.

LENs will contribute to broaden the roster of local experts with valuable and practical knowledge accessible to UNODC and the African Union. They are expected to generate new ideas and help in the identification of effective and up-to-date demand reduction approaches sensitive to local need, which can be advocated and disseminated in other regions.