Press Release

  

A training for the Drug Treatment Professionals on Universal Treatment Curriculum 1&2

28 August - 4 September 2018

28 August 2018, Lahore -Today at Avari Hotel Lahore, UNODC Country Office Pakistan in collaboration with Ministry of Narcotics Control Government of Pakistan has launched a global training programme in Pakistan for the drug treatment professional on Universal Treatment Curriculum with the support of the Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).

Overall, 75 drug treatments professionals from 4 provinces of Pakistan and Azad Jamu Kashmir attended this training. The participants were of a diverse workforce, various professions ranging from doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists and social worker who are in the field working for more than 2 years at various drug treatment centers in Pakistan.  The trainers for the training are International Certified   Addiction for Professionals (ICAP) certified professionals (Doctors, psychologists and Sociologists) working in Pakistan in different sectors government and private sectors. 

Background and objectives

Since 2010, the Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) has supported the development of the global training series appropriate for the certification of addiction professionals in the South Asia region. The overall goal of the training series has been to reduce the significant health, social, and economic problems associated with substance use disorders (SUDs) by building international treatment capacity through training, professionalizing, and expanding the global treatment workforce. The training prepares counselors and other health providers for professional certification at the entry level, by providing the latest information about SUDs and their treatment.

Putting science into practice, with a special focus on capacity building for the delivery of evidence-based drug dependence treatment and care services in Pakistan through the implementation of the Universal Treatment Curriculum (UTC) training strategy, UNODC plan a periodic round of trainings to train drug dependence treatment practitioners at the national level on the Basic Level UTC courses 1-8, including 4A. 

Currently Pakistan has: 

  • Approximately 25 National Trainers trained on Basic Level UTC (1-8)
  • 19 treatment practitioners in the country credentialed internationally

The objective is to train 100 drug dependence treatment practitioners on the Basic Level UTC curricula 1-8, including 4A and then to have a cadre of 44 Pakistan National Trainers on Basic Level UTC (1-8) and to support credentialing by ICCE through Training of Trainers (ToT). These training will be completed by January 2019 and followed up by a refresher course leading to certification to "International certified addiction professional" (ICAP). The successful candidates will be able to attend ToT, to increase and strengthen the services on drug dependence treatment in the country.

Talking to the media the Chief Guest  Mr. Hassan Abdullah  said,  that overall goal of the training series has been to reduce the significant health, social, and economic problems associated with substance use disorders (SUDs)".

Dr. Farrukh Ansari and Ms. Rashda Niazi from UNODC combinedly informed media that the training has 9 curriculums, and at the moment we are starting with the first two". The training will be launched simultaneously in Lahore and Karachi 27 and 28 th of August for a week each. These two curriculums are comprised of the following courses.

 

The Basic UTC Training Series Comprises of Nine Separate Curricula:

Curriculum 1

Physiology and Pharmacology for Addiction Professionals: Is a 3-day foundational course. By foundational we mean that it provides a necessary foundation, or basis, for learning about SUD counseling. It is not a how-to or skills-based course, but it provides a context for the skills-based curricula later in the series. Curriculum 1 gives an overview of the physiology of addiction as a brain disease and the pharmacology of psychoactive substances. Recommended for every personnel working in the field of addiction particularly to assist the understanding of addiction as a chronic relapsing brain disease.

Curriculum 2

Treatment for Substance Use Disorders-The Continuum of Care for Addiction Professionals : This is a 5-day foundational course. By this we mean that it provides a necessary foundation, or basis, for learning about SUD counseling. It is not a how-to or skills-based course, but it provides a context for the skills-based curricula later in the series. Curriculum 2 provides an overview of recovery, recovery management, stages of change, principles of effective treatment, components of treatment, factors affecting treatment outcomes, and evidence-based practices. Recommended as the basic curriculum for treatment practitioners.

 

 

Funding

The current 2 years project is supported by the Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).

 

 

For further information and confirmation, please contact:

 

l  Ms. Rizwana Rahool, Communications Officer, UNODC Pakistan, cell: 0301 8564255, email: rizwana.asad@unodc.org

28 August 2018

Lahore