The main two reasons why a person would become a volunteer are:

• social (public) - ideological, ethical and moral, taht go to work-related needs and concerns of others, one wants to do something good for the society in order to change certain situations and to transform the world in a positive direction.
• personal reasons - to feel useful, to experience new adventures, to develop as a person, to build new relationships and to work with ones peers.

There are plenty of challenges around us, where volunteering has an enormous positive role. You can join:

• preventive actions concerning alcohol
• road safety initiatives
• prevention activities among drug addicts
• prevention campaigns on HIV / AIDS

Preventive actions concerning alcohol

Because:

Europe has the largest share of population, drinking alcohol, in the world, the highest levels of consumption per capita and high levels of alcohol-related harm. Harmful and hazardous alcohol consumption is responsible for 7.4% of all cases of sickness and premature death in the EU. Harmful and hazardous alcohol consumption also leads to a significant number of deaths on EU roads, severe social consequences such as violence, hooliganism, crime, family problems and social exclusion, and low productivity in the workplace.

If you want to know more:

What it means to be an alcoholic?

Alcohol dependence is a constant need for alcohol as a result of changes in the body metabolism. Alcoholic addict cannot stop drinking despite the damage and losses that alcohol consumption causes him or his family.

How much alcohol to drink to be sober and reasonable?

There is no necessarily to drink alcohol, but if one thinks there is the answer is not more than 5 days a week. For women it is not advisable to drink more than 10 g absolute alcohol (AA) per day, and for men - more than 20 g absolute alcohol per day. At least in two days per week one does not have to drink alcohol.

What is an alcoholic beverage?

As an alcoholic beverage we have in mind a cup / bottle / pint of beer or cider (500ml), glass of wine (150 ml), glass of spirits (50 ml) or a mixed drink.

Many drivers ignore the problem and drink beer before driving. They can make an informed choice by calculating the theoretical content of alcohol in their body before driving through the formulas:

for women: C = g / (0.6 x G);

for men: C = g / (0.7 x G),

C – concentration of AA in blood in g/l;

g – quantity of absorbed АА, respectively in grams АА;

0.6 and 0.7 = Vd – volume of distribution of AA in l/kg;

G – body weight in kg.

Example:

МA young person weighs 60 kg. He consumes 500 ml of beer with 5% AA. The amount ingested by him is AA 25 ml (500 ml. X 5%) or AA 19.725 g (25 ml. AA x 0.789 g / ml).

The concentration of AA in his blood is:

C = g / (0.7 x G) = 19,725 / (0.7 x 60) = 0.47 g / l (ppm AA).

The same example, referring to the woman with the same weight - 60 kg, indicating that the amount of ethanol in it leads to higher blood concentration of AA:

C = g / (0.6 x G) = 19,725 / (0.6 x 60) = 0.55 g / l (ppm AA)

If you have problems with the calculations and your phone supports Java you can download for free a mobile phone alcotest at http://roadsafety.open-youth.org. It will perform the calculations.

Initiatives related to road safety

Globally every year 1.3 million people die as a result of road accidents. That's over 3000 people per day. From twenty to fifty million are injured, and these injuries are an important reason to cause disability. Road accidents are one of the three leading causes of death among 5 to 44 years old people. If we do not take timely action, road accidents will become the fifth cause of death worldwide with expected 2.4 million victims per year.

In 2010 Europe recorded 31,000 victims of its roads. Moreover, for every killed four were permanently injured, 10 received serious injuries and 40 suffered minor injuries as a result of road accidents, forming a figure of 1.5 million wounded. (Source: Bulletin "On the move to safer roads in Europe").

Every day 25 young people die on the European roads. Road accidents are the number one cause of death among young people. That is why the European Commission adopted its "European Road Safety Policy Orientations for the period 2011-2020", which aims at halving road traffic injuries during this decade.

Bulgaria continues to be in the top of the list in number of road casualties per capita, but in the recent years there has been a positive trend. 2008 was a peak in the number of deaths due to road accidents with a number of 1061. In the same year "Open Youth" started its preventive campaigns on the issue. In 2009 the total number of deaths dropped to 901, which compared to 2008 is a decrease of 15%. In 2010 there were 775 victims, which is a reduction of 14% compared to 2009 or 27% compared to 2008. (Source: Ministry of Interior) However, young people give disproportionately large number of casualties. For example, in 2009 190 people killed were youths aged 15 to 25 years or 21%, while the proportion of this age group in total population is only about 12-13%.

Prevention activities among drug addicts

In the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) calculations drug abuse in the EU accounts for 6500-9000 deaths (by overdose) a year. Injections are the main way of transmitting blood infections such as HIV / AIDS and hepatitis B and C. The EU has 2 million drug addicts, half of which use injections. HIV rate among them fell between 2001 and 2005 to about 3500 new cases in 2005.

Prevention campaigns on HIV / AIDS

Today, AIDS is the leading cause of death in the world of working people. Coping with HIV is a global health challenge. According to a UN report people living with HIV worldwide are over 33 million. Of these, over 5 million young people aged between 15 and 24 years and over 2 million are children. The total number of officially registered HIV cases in Bulgaria till 25 November 2010 is 1252. The actual number of infected people, however, is about 4000. This shows the calculation of the scientific assessment of the epidemic that developed United Nations AIDS programs (UNAIDS). Registered HIV-positive people have very broad age range - 15 to 66 years. In the last year there is a critical lowering of the age. Particularly alarming is the fact that over 52% of newly registered are young people, aged 15-29. Quarter of a century after the beginning of the HIV / AIDS epidemic there is no part of the world that is not affected by the disease. Until now, over 25 million people are victims of AIDS.

Sources:

http://ec.europa.eu/health-eu/my_lifestyle/alcohol/index_bg.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/health-eu/my_lifestyle/drugs/index_bg.htm

http://www.unaids-bulgaria.org