Islamic Republic of Iran

 

Developing Capacity of Afghan Healthcare Professionals on Evidence-based and Human-centered Drug Dependence Treatment and Care

 

Dr. Mohammad Nasar Sharifi, Director of the
Drug Demand Reduction Directorate,
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Ministry of Counter Narcotics,
addressing the participants
in the opening ceremony.

The UNODC Iran, in collaboration with the Iranian Drug Control Headquarters (DCHQ), conducted two parallel training workshops on "Policy Makers and Public Policy Development" and "TreatNet Volume D: Management of Drug Use Treatment" for Afghan policy makers and senior managers of drug use disorders, held in the Iranian National Centre for Addiction studies (INCAS) in Tehran - Iran on 4-7 November 2018. Mr. Alexander Fedulov, UNODC Iran Country Representative, in his opening remarks stated: "The present meeting has a strong international partnership character in the spirit of the United Nations with the cooperation and collaboration of three UNODC Offices, namely UNODC Headquarters, UNODC Afghanistan and UNODC Iran in collaboration with the Iranian Drug Control Headquarters and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan".

Mr. Hamid Jomepour, Director General, Drug Treatment and Social Support of the Iranian Drug Control Headquarters (DCHQ), one of the keynote speakers, expressed his gratitude for convening the two aforementioned trainings and emphasised on the significance of joint national and international initiatives in the area of drug demand reduction and drug control. In addition to his comments, he gave an account of successful and widespread drug treatment services in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The next speaker Dr. Shahpoor Yousuf, Director of drug Demand Reduction Directorate of the Afghan Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) followed by Dr. Mohammad Nasar Sharifi, Director of the Drug Demand Reduction Directorate of the Ministry of Counternarcotic of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan also emphasised on the importance of regional and international cooperation as a solution to the issue of drug control. Furthermore and once again the significance of cooperation in drug demand reduction was emphasized by Dr. Ali Reza Noroozi, Senior Researcher in the Iranian National Centre for Addiction Studies and Ms. Anubha Sood, Head of the Drug Demand Reduction and Alternative Development, UNODC Afghanistan.

The feedback received from participants denoted positive results of the training in terms of a better understanding and capability utilising policy making platforms for improving drug treatment programmes, effectiveness and the application of standard management procedures for improving drug dependence treatment service provisions.

These training workshops were conducted under the UNODC-WHO Programme on drug dependence treatment and care (GLOK32) graciously funded by the government and the Embassy of Japan.

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 For further information, please contact UNODC Country Office in Iran:
Tel.: (+98-21) 8887 8377-81
Fax: (+98-21) 88796700
Email: unodc-iranfieldoffice@un.org