Fact Sheets

Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs Experience Among Street Children in Nepal

• 1. The use of alcohol has become common among different caste\ethnic groups, among gender and among all age groups in Nepal.
• 2. 16% of children in Kathmandu leave home due to alcohol use in the family.
• 3. The median age of first exposure to alcohol was 11.
• 4. The Alcohol Act, 2056 prevents the selling of alcohol to children aged below 16.
• 5. Home, bar & restaurants were the major place where alcohol (raksi) is initiated with 41% each and friends' places with 18%.
• 6. Among children at risk, alcohol is considered as a means for entertainment (39%), forgetting sorrows (17%), as food (10%), and as energy (10%).
• 7. Impact of alcohol as perceived by children includes domestic violence (35.6%), indebted (14.4%), bad relation with neighbor, illness or death of a family member (3%) and decline in social prestige (2.3%) including children's involvement in alcohol use.
• 8. The overall ever use of tobacco is 55% among children at risk.
• 9. The more the hazardous form of child labor, the more children are associated with dysfunctional family, the more they run the risk of exposing with such substances.
• 10. Street children not only are always at risk of exposure to substance use but they also run the risk of physical and psychological stress.
• 11. The current prevalence rate of drugs is 20.6% and the overall prevalence of alcohol use among children aged 10-17 is 17.4% for current use, with 21.8% for boys and 11.2% for girls.
• 12. Exposure of drugs use largely depends on the company of children. The socio-psychological circumstance is much more favorable for drug use for children.
• 13. More and more street children are exposed to intra-venous drug use. Among them about 10% are believed to be exposed to HIV infection.
• 14. About 51.7% street children are addicted to glue sniffing, which is the current trend among street children.
• 15. The issue of drug use and HIV among street children is not given priority by the organisations working on the issues of HIV and drug abuse.