13 MARCH 2015
Winners of the "Choose a healthy life without drugs!" drawing and essay contests awarded (PHOTO)
Public Health and Reforms Center of the Ministry of Health (PHRC) in cooperation with Nasimi District Executive Power of Baku city held drawing and essay contests with the theme ‘Choose a healthy life without drugs!", February 10 to March 1. The contest has been launched in accordance with the Azerbaijan Republic Ministry of Health Action Plan on implementation of the “2013-2018 State Program On Combating Drug Abuse and Illicit Turnover of Narcotic Substances and Their Precursors”. Students at grade 8-10 of secondary schools in Nasimi district of Baku actively engaged in the contest. In total 28 drawings and 32 essay entries have been submitted to the contest.
The award ceremony for the contest winners was held on March 13, 2015 in the school No. 46. Presented were senior officials of the partner organizations, teaching personnel and students of Nasimi district senior secondary schools.
While giving an opening speech, Head of the PHRC Project Coordination Department Sabina Babazade underlined the importance of the constest for youth: "The purpose of these awareness raising competitions was to strengthen students' knowledge and jointly combat drug abuse". Having appreciated the joint efforts and support from the students’ parents in the contest, the speaker viewed this initiative as a success of each family.
Khalid Karimov, Chief Consultant of Nasimi district Executive power, on behalf of the district governing body thanked PHRC for organizing the contest on a high level: "We all must avoid drugs and fight against drug abuse, the challenge of the century. We welcome this initiative as well as other public awareness activities carried out by PHRC".
PHRC physician Vafa Aghayeva spoke about the negative impacts of drug addiction on an individual life: "Drug addiction has both physical and psychological effects. It impedes socio-economic development, destroys families and communities, and leads to a social breakdown". The video displayed after the presentation about drug prevention aroused an interest among the participants.
Winners were awarded certificates and prizes by the member of Artists Union of Azerbaijan Naila Salmanova, Deputy Director of the School No. 46 Ilyas Mammadov, Chief Consultant of Nasimi district executive power Khalid Karimov, Deputy Chief of Nasimi District Youth and Sports Department Shahmar Taghiyev, heads of PHRC departments Sabina Babazade and Aynur Rashidova.
Rahima Rashidzade, a student of Baku Turkish Anadolu Lyceum, was declared the winner for the best essay. The 2nd and 3rd place winners were the students of Baku Turkish Anadolu Lyceum Sevilay Eshilyurt and the secondary school No.133 Ramal Rzayev, respectively. Two of the contest participants were awarded incentive certificates and prizes for their active participation.
The 2nd place winner, a student of Baku Turkish Anadolu Lyceum Sevilay Eshilyurt shared some highlights from his essay: "The trap used in Asia to hunt monkeys bears some resemblance with drug addiction that tightly gripped our society: by cutting a slit in the nut hunters place some treat inside and tether the nut to a tree. The slit in the nut is cut so that a monkey can insert its hand in the nut. However, after grabbing the food the monkey cannot get its clenched hand out of the nut. In fact, the monkey gets itself trapped and tempted by its own desire. All it has to do to free itself is to unclench its fist and release its hold on the treat. The case referred to in this story is similar to the behaviour of drug users. We need to get rid of this dependence. The reason that drove them into this trap and forcing to stay there is their desire. To get rid of these desires, you have to loose hold of this poison and be free".
The winner of the drawing contest was a student of Baku Turkish Anadolu Lyceum Shahnigar Dogan. The 2nd and 3rd places were given to students of secondary school No. 54 Zohra Guliyeva and Baku Turkish Anadolu Lyceum Aydan Hasanova, respectively. Incentive certificates and prizes were delivered to the students of the "Evrika" Lyceum Hasan Feyzullayev and Laman Efendiyeva (for a clever idea) and 7 people (for active participation).
At the end of the ceremony educational materials on drug prevention produced by Public Health and Reforms Center were distributed to the participants.
Photos of the event can be viewed here.