UNODC Capacity-building workshop on the Adaptation of Key Quality Standards for Service
Appraisal for the Quality Assurance in Treatment of Drug Use Disorders in the Republic
of South Africa
Delegates from the national Department of Social Development and civil society with UNODC officials.
Johannesburg, South Africa 27 — 29 August 2024, The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Regional Office for Southern Africa together with UNODC Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Section (PTRS) Vienna facilitated a capacity building workshop on the Adaptation of Key Quality Standards (KQS) for Service Appraisal for the Quality Assurance (QA) in Treatment for Drug Use Disorders in South Africa.
This pioneering capacity building workshop by UNODC was the first of its kind in Africa and South Africa and one of the first workshops globally. In 2023, UNODC brought the International Programme for the Quality Assurance in Drug Use Disorder Treatment (PIQAT) to South Africa and was also the first of its kind in the country. The primary objective of PIQAT is to build QA in drug treatment systems and services and through this, improve treatment outcomes and assisting Member States in meeting the demand for treatment. South Africa is facing a growing opioid problem, including in rural areas where opioid use was not prevalent in the past. Workshop delegates, who consisted of drug treatment quality managers, social work policy developers responsible for registration and monitoring of treatment services and treatment service providers in the NGO sector agreed that UNODC brought this groundbreaking workshop to South Africa at an opportune time.
The workshop focussed on sensitizing delegates on UNODC/WHO International Standards for the Treatment of Drug Use Disorders and UNODC Key Quality Standards (KQS) for drug treatment, including the adaptation of KQS to the South African context. It was ascertained that some of the KQS are not met by South Africa and the workshop assisted to have robust and transparent discussions on this issue. Globally UNODC PIQAT initiative includes capacity building trainings, workshops and boasts practical technical support to Member States in the area of QA for drug treatment.
The capacity building workshop on the adaptation of KQS is in synergy with a capacity building training that focused on QA in South Africa’s drug treatment system facilitated by UNODC in March 2024, a sensitization meeting in 2023 and ongoing technical support to key national government departments. During the workshop UNODC was praised for their consistency and high-level of technical skills in QA for drug treatment. UNODC’s technical expertise on QA, including other drug issues, was clearly observed in navigating technical discussions on South Africa’s drug policy, developing the new National Drug Master Plan, Minimum Norms and Standards for Treatment and reviewing of the Act for the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse (Act 70 of 2008), that are all issues impacting QA in drug treatment.
Workshop delegates had robust discussions on issues preventing optimal QA in drug treatment and gaps in registration and monitoring of treatment services. The high-level technical design of UNODC workshop material, including interacting with delegates through an online platform in real time during the workshop, enhanced discussions on QA and afforded the opportunity to critically engage the treatment landscape of South Africa. It was ascertained that the innovative workshop content, including field tested International Standards and Key Quality Standards enabled workshop delegates to easily contextualise the Standards to their context. The way forward will include the formalization of a QA national task team, ongoing capacity building trainings and tailor-made technical support to provinces and local stakeholders in the PIQAT framework.
The impact of the workshop was overwhelmingly positive and could be observed in the feedback of delegates. One workshop delegate stated: “This cutting-edge workshop is affording us the opportunity to discuss critical quality issues in drug treatment. Issues that we did not discuss to this extent before”. Another colleague from National Department of Social Development stated: “South Africa did not review its minimum Norms and Standards for drug treatment in a very long time and this workshop will significantly assist with the reviewing of Norms and Standards we are about to embark on”.
UNODC through the PIQAT initiative and in collaboration with stakeholders such as National Department of Social Development will continue to scale up QA and ensure that South Africa’s drug treatment system and services functions optimally, including meeting the continuously growing demand for treatment.
