The Global-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS) is a survey designed to measure and assess the behavioral risk factors and protective factors among young people aged 13 to 17 years old. The survey
aims to obtain data on young people’s health behavior and protective factors related to the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children and adults. The result of the survey provides policy
makers with insights and tools necessary in creating more responsive health interventions.
The GSHS measured alcohol use, dietary behaviors, drug use, hygiene, mental health, physical activity, protective factors, tobacco use, HIV/AIDS related knowledge, and violence and unintentional injury. The survey was funded by the Epidemiology Bureau of the Department of Health with technical assistance from the World Health Organization (WHO) and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (USCDC).
Drug use among high school students in 2015 increases
- Drug use had a decreasing trend for years 2003 to 2011. However, drug use among high school students aged 13-15 years old increased from 4.2% in 2011 to 10.1% in 2015.
Figure 1. Drug Use Among High School Students Aged 13-15 Years Old,
Philippines: 2003, 2007, 2001 and 2015
One in ten of high school students aged 13-15 years old ever used drugs
- In 2015, 10.1% of high school students aged 13-15 years old ever used drugs in the Philippines.
Figure 2. Drug Use among High School Students Aged 13-15 Years Old,
Philippines: 2015
Males were more prone to use drugs than females
- Males (12.3%) were more likely to use drugs than the females (8.1%).
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Of those who ever used marijuana or amphetamines/methamphetamines one or more times during their life, the males (8.6%, 6.1%) registered a higher proportion of users as compared to the females (5.3%, 3.5%), respectively.
Figure 3. Drug Use Among High School Students Aged 13-15 Years by Sex, Philippines: 2015
Eight in ten high school students ever used drugs before age 14
- In 2015, 77.7% of high school students reported to have used drugs for the first time before they turned 14 years old.
Figure 4. Drug Initiation among High School Students Before the Age 14 Years, Philippines: 2015
Females more prone to use drugs for the first time than males
- Females (83.0%) were more likely than the males (74.5%) to have first used drugs before the age 14 years.
- Almost 6 out of 10 fourth year high school students initiated drug use before age 14 years.
Figure 5. Drug Initiation among High School Students Before the Age 14 Years by Sex,
Philippines (In Percent): 2015
TECHNICAL NOTES
Drug - It is any substance that, when taken into the body, alters the body’s function either physically and/or psychologically.
Drug Use - Refers to the activity of taking drugs into the body by way of inhaling, injecting, smoking, consuming, absorbing via patch on the skin or dissolving under the tongue.
Drug Abuse - Refers to the activity of using legal or illegal substances in prohibited ways for the purpose of creating pleasure effects on the brain.
Trend - Refers to a prevailing or general movement.
