A comparative content analysis of South African and Kenyan drug policies from a social development perspective

Abstract

South Africa and Kenya have both adopted a social development approach to shape their development agendas, as well as national policies in response to drug abuse. The goal of this study was to compare the content of South Africa’s National Drug Master Plan 2006-2011 (NDMP) and Kenya’s National Drug Abuse Control Policy 2011 (NDACP) from a social development perspective. A quantitative comparative study was undertaken to compare the manifest content of these policies. A checklist of five dimensions of social development, with concomitant themes and indicators, was compiled for this purpose. Both policies emphasise the dimensions ‘levels of service delivery’ and ‘integrated service delivery’, while paying limited attention to the ‘rights-based approach’ and ‘capital development’ dimensions of social development. Lessons learnt from the study are presented in an effort to align drug policies, especially those of developing countries, with a social development approach.