The Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma Lay Training Unit secretary Meresiana  Kuricava says the children taking drugs are those attending church.

Ms Kuricava made this comment after raising her concern about children in primary school taking drugs.

She said this was an issue that must be addressed in the conference.

“It is a great concern that children  in primary schools are taking drugs. I believe that lay and church ministers need to be trained how to identify children taking drugs,” she said.

“Lay and church ministers must be equipped in order to handle cases such as this.”

She said to address this issue, there was a need to find the root cause of it.

“More awareness and education must be carried out in informal settlements on the harmful use of drugs in children and adults around the country,” she said.

The other issue raised during the meeting was the sparse representation of women on boards.

“The Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma had made some improvement over the previous years regarding women representation as board members but there was room for improvement,” she said.

She is optimistic more women will step up in the near future.

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