Focus on Women in Addiction in the 2020's

Warm thanks to all who attended and participated in the International Conference:Focus on Women in Addiction in the 2020's. It was a very rewarding and successful conference! We will report more about the conference, but for now, pictures is worth more than a thousand words.

conference pic

In an exciting "first" for both organizations WOCAD and ICAA delivered a Convention on Women in Addiction. Aimed at practitioners, policy-makers and hands-on researchers, the conference was developed from the innovative and unique approaches developed by WOCAD and exemplified in such award-winning initiatives as BellaNet International and WOCAD’s contribution to European Action on Drugs which has been selected as one of the Top ten submissions in the EU for drug prevention.

Awards WOCAD BellaNet

Why are we here?
Opening remarks and welcome - the hidden agenda.

Peter Vamos

Dr Peter Vamos. Vice President ICAA, Executive Director Portage, Canada.

Why are we here?
The need for a “Women in Addictions” event.

Maj Inger Klingvall

Maj-Inger Klingvall. President WOCAD, Vice President UNICEF Sweden.

Swedish legislation and what it means for alcohol consumption.

Ann Charlotte Hammar Johnsson

Ann-Charlotte Hammar Johnsson. Vice President WOCAD, Member of Swedish Parliament.

Women and Social Issues.
Socio-cultural influences on addictive behaviour.
Poverty, social housing and homelessness.

Nancy Poole

Dr Nancy Poole. Director BC Centre of Exellence for Women´s Healt, Prevention Lead for the CanFASD Research Network, Vancouver, British Columbia,Canada.

Women and Social Issues.
Gender-specific drug prevention - an investment for life.

Leena Harake

Leena Haraké. General Manager WOCAD, Sweden.

Drug prevention.
Tobacco.
The Global Epidemic of Women and Tobacco – The scale and what we know.

Margaretha Haglund

Margaretha Haglund.Tobacco Control Expert, Sweden. Expert for WHO Europe.

Drug Prevention.
Prescription medicines.
Drugs, pills and doping.

Fred Nyberg

Prof Fred Nyberg.Senior Professor at the Division of Biological Research on Drug Dependence, Uppsala University, Sweden.

Drug prevention.
Alcohol.
A gender perspective on alcohol consumption and alcohol’s harm to others.

Håkan Leifman

Håkan Leifman. Director, CAN, Sweden.

Socio-cultural barriers to getting help.
Empowering women in South African cities.

Kari Lossius

Kari Lossius. Clinic Director, Bergen Clinics, Norway.

Socio-cultural barriers to getting help.
NOVAT-group as an empowering method for supporting women with addictions – examination of evaluation results.

Helena Palojärvi

Helena Palojärvi. Director, Naistenkartano, Finland.

Alcohol and Drug Prevention and Treatment.

Rosemary Tisch

Rosemary Tisch.Director, Prevention Partnership International, CA, USA.

Alcohol and Drug Prevention and Treatment.
Gender-sensitivity in alcohol and drug prevention and treatment in Belgium.

Julie Schamp

Julie Schamp. Wouter Vanderplasschen, Belgium.

Swedish Parliament.

Lars Axel Nordell Swedish Parliament

Chairman of the Parliamentary temperance group, Lars-Axel Nordell,Member of Swedish Parliament, was our host. It was an introduction in the Parliament's history and workflow as well as a tour of Parliament House. The meeting ended with a mingling with non-alcoholic beverages.

Bella – empowering young women.
Bella-Rubble and Roses 2, the interactive method material for girl groups.
BellaNet- the international perspective.

Britt Fredenman

Britt Fredenman. Project leader of the National/International Network of BellaNet, WOCAD, Sweden.

Socio-cultural issues for women in specific populations.
Saami women and alcohol - an overview in Sápmi.

EllaCarin Blind

EllaCarin Blind.Culture Administrator at the Swedish Samí National Association.

Families.
Empowering mothers with small children.

Genevieve Minville

Genevieve Minville. Director Mother and Child Programme, Portage, Canada.

Pregnant addicts.
Experiences of a specialist healthcare service for children of drug addicted women.

Ihsan Sarman

Dr Ihsan Sarman.Physician at Sachsska Children and Adolescents Hospital and Head of the neonantal pedriatric care center, Rosenlunds child health team, Sweden.

Policy.
Gender discrimination challenges in policy making.

Lorraine Greaves and Nancy Poole

Dr Lorraine Greaves. Principal Galvanizing Equity Group Inc. International Network of Women against Tobacco. BC Centre of Exellence for Women´s Health, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Dr Nancy Poole. Director BC Centre of Exellence for Women´s Healt, Prevention Lead for the CanFASD Research Network, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Conference organizers:

ICAA/International Council on Alcohol and Addictions, is one of the oldest non-governmental organisations active in the field of dependencies. It is dedicated to preventing and reducing the harmful use and effects of alcohol, tobacco, other drugs and addictive behaviours on individuals, families, communities and society. Through a range of activities at international, regional and local levels, ICAA sensitises, empowers and educates organisations and individuals in the interest of public health, personal and social well being. ICAA believes in the exchange of evidence-based knowledge and innovative approaches. It is committed to undertake this in an independent, apolitical, inclusive and transparent manner.

WOCAD/Women's Organisations Committee on Alcohol and Drug Issues, is the Swedish women's organisations’ collaborating body for issues concerning alcohol, narcotics and addictive drugs. WOCAD's main work is preventive. Their target groups are girls and women of all ages. WOCAD is a politically independent and non-denominational organisation with 37 member organisations. WOCAD embraces a total of 350,000 women.A crucial part of WOCAD’s work has always been spreading relevant information to girls and women concerning alcohol and other drugs. However, information and knowledge doesn’t always lead to a change of habits! For this reason, WOCAD is combining information with interactive and practical methods to encourage people to talk about and reflect on their own habits, attitudes and values. Their intention is to reach out to all teenage girls.

Project leader Britt Fredenman