Use of (AI) CASINbot to solve Substance use abuse by youth

In 2021 — Around 275 million people used drugs worldwide in the last year, while over 36 million people suffered from drug use disorders, according to the 2021 World Drug Report, as released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). As the 2018 National Drug Use Survey revealed, in Nigeria at that time there were around 14.3 million drug users of which close to 3 million suffered from a drug use disorder.The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said recent statistics have revealed that 40 per cent of Nigerian youth between 18 and 35 years are deeply involved in the abuse of drugs. The statistic is worrisome and showed that the problem had reached an epidemic level in Nigeria. In Nigeria, the burden of drug abuse is on the rise and becoming a public health concern. Nigeria, which is the most populous country in Africa, has developed a reputation as a center for drug trafficking and usage mostly among the youth population. According to the 2018 UNODC report “Drug use in Nigeria”—The first large-scale, nationwide national drug use survey in Nigeria, one in seven persons (aged 15–64 years) had used a drug in the past year. Also, one in five individuals who had used drug in the past year is suffering from drug-related disorders. Drug abuse has been a cause of many criminal offences such as theft, burglary, sex work, and shoplifting.

This increasing demand for electronic transactions is also attracting facilitators and investors from Europe and Asia who are investing in the Nigerian digital economy projects. “E-commerce in Nigeria is gaining momentum and there’s the optimism of a vibrant digital economy for the country. The necessary pillars needed for the culture to thrive are gradually falling into place. For instance, 50% of Nigeria’s population, that is 104.4 million, are connected to the internet. Between January 2020 and January 2021, over 19 million new users got connected to the internet. This represents a 22% growth YoY. The innovation seeks to use mobile phones to solve mental health impact of drug abuse by Youths in Nigeria.

The use of (AI) Artificial intelligence like CASINbot, a Facebook-integrated computer program that aims to replicate conversations a patient might have with his or her therapist to reduce the effects of substance use abuse on the mental health of youths in Nigeria. CASINbot is a chatbot that resembles an instant messaging service. The digital health technology asks about your mood and thoughts, “listens” to how you are feeling, learns about you and offers evidence-based cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) tools.

In Nigeria, the use of drugs/substances has been increasing dramatically over the years. Very disturbingly, large number of youth in Nigeria is engaged
in drug/substance and other related abuses. In 2012, the estimated annual prevalence for cannabis use in Nigeria is almost 9 percent of persons aged 15 – 65; in 2014 it moved to 11.6 percent. In Kano State, statistics have shown prevalence in cannabis and psychotropic substances use. For example, between June 2015 and June 2016, the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Kano State Command seized 22,291.767kg drugs: Cannabis sativa (3,072,695kg), cocaine (76.5grms), heroine (14.7grms) and psychotropic substances(19,127.872kg)

COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS

CASIN works with local/ community health workers in each area of intervention to help facilitate the adoption of the health service delivery. The health is trained by experts on the modern mental health technology and service delivery and hence they serve as the trainers of other people in their society mostly youths and women

YOUTH AS CHANGE AGENTS

The youths are the bedrock of the TA strategy because they are the middle/ heart of the strategy forming a forward-backward synergy with community health workers as trainers and also health delivery agents to their household.

HOUSEHOLD HEALTH DELIVERY

Each household is to be represented by a youth that would be trained by the community health workers, they are mandated to step down the training at the household level. They are known as “HOUSEHOLD HEALTH CHAMPIONS” (HHC). The organization provides them with the necessary information to be able to identify suicidal tendencies, depression, and mental health issues at the household level. The youth representing a household is expected to be learned at least with O’level results, ability to read and write and must be selfless (Volunteer).

Within the last few years over 5,000 copies of Mental health toolkit have been printed and shared to people in IDP’s- People with less than $2 per day to spend on their families in Nigeria. Serving three IDP camps in Kano, Jigawa and Kaduna States.

Campaign Against Suicide In Nigeria is seeking for more platform to engage with more local and international organizations for partnership and areas of possible collaboration. The solution is novel in the African context and hence requires both public and private sector collaboration for sustainability and scalability.

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- Reduction in suicide rate
- Number of substance use abuse persons having access to mental health testing free of charge with the use of the AI powered machine learning app
- Number/ quantity of Anti-depressants provided at no cost for depressed substance abused victims in the intervention areas
- People affected by depression getting daily mental health tips on their mobile phones

- Ensuring behavioral changes through detailed daily chats reminder with the use of data on their mobile phones.

-The CASINbot app would become the friend of the substance use abuse victims in Nigeria

- Conduct mental health test on 50,000 persons affected by substance use abuse in Nigeria (50% women, 60% Youths)
- Provide anti-depressants to 10,000 persons affected by substance use abuse(50% Women, 60% Youths)
- Reach 100,000 persons through mental health awareness via our platforms in the intervention areas (trainings, seminars, social media, text messaging etc) (50% Women, 60% Youths)
- Reduce the rate of suicide in the intervention states by 50%

- Weekly assessment of the app user to get feedback through focused group discussion

Problem/Need: Increasing number of Youths engaging in Substance/drug use abuse in Northern Nigeria 

Activities: Design of an AI powered app to reach youths on their mobile phones

Outputs: Youths have access to the tools they need to cope with the effects of mental health

Outcomes: Reduction in suicide rate among Youths in Nigeria

The use of (AI) Artificial intelligence like CASINbot, a Facebook-integrated computer program that aims to replicate conversations a patient might have with his or her therapist to reduce the effects of mental health among the Youths in Nigeria. CASINbot is a chatbot that resembles an instant messaging service. The digital health technology asks about your mood and thoughts, “listens” to how you are feeling, learns about you and offers evidence-based cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) tools. 

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There will be no discrimination in the implementation of the project: Vulnerable populations (including older adults, women, young people, Indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, LGBTQI+ individuals, and other traditionally underserved and minority groups) would be considered. The CASIN team works with 40% of women inclusion in the employee register and seeks to reach 50% women in the project implementation.

Many of today's youth face conflicts that they can barely handle in a very young age. Factors such as modernization have brought many social changes in the society. Children are being taken for granted, usually by parents who both work and have no time for their children. The issue of broken family, peer pressure, other pressing issues that would make a youth feel inferior of him/herself are an addendum. The search for self–expression among the youth has often led to deviant practices such as joining gangs, engaging in pre-marital sex and engaging in drug/substance abuse. Spooner (2005) stress that growing numbers of children are being neglected, abused, and ignored; and that without some positive steps, the dark specter of generational trouble could become real.  

The term youth refers to anybody in the period between early childhood and old age or those between 6 - 30 years. It is defined further as “a psycho-mental and socio-economic age category with certain time honored attributes like physical and mental agility, buoyancy, freshness, vigor, curiosity, deviance, vulnerability, malleability, a can-do-it disposition, etc.” (Odekunle, 2002:8).  The Nigerian state defines the youth to include those in the age bracket of 18 to 30 years.

Developer of an AI-powered chatbot (CASINbot) designed to deliver cognitive behavior therapy and other forms of clinically validated therapies at scale. The organization's chatbot offers therapy and emotional support for mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety disorders through natural, personalized, and human-like conversations to help people monitor and regulate their mood, enabling young adults to decrease symptoms of depression and anxiety and improve their mental health.
 

The organization is a non-profit organization and it has no products for sale or service charges for its activities. The revenue model is designed to through sustained donations and grants and hopefully raise investment capital for sustainability. The design of the CASINBot app is set to generate some revenues through articulated advertisement through traffic generation in the long run. 

Campaign Against Suicide in Nigeria (CASIN) is an award winning organization with vast potential of funding. The website generated a lot of income due to traffic with the help of Monetag in 2023. The organization has enjoyed donation from well wishers across the world. The money was used to run the organization.