Islamabad, January 29, 2019 (PPI-OT): Today at the Ramada Hotel Islamabad, UNODC Country Office Pakistan in collaboration with the Ministry of Narcotics Control, Government of Pakistan, has launched a pilot training programme in Pakistan on drug use prevention in line with the Universal Prevention Curriculum (UPC), with the support of the US Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).
In addition to this, a closing ceremony is being held for the training program of 100 drug treatment professionals from across Pakistan, commenced in August 2018, on the Universal Treatment Curriculum (UTC), also implemented with the support of INL.
On UPC, around 20 professionals from education, health, media, and non-governmental organizations will be trained as master trainers on drug prevention; who will then cascade the trainings in their respective specialities and regions, on how to plan and coordinate drug prevention programmes.
On UTC, as noted above around 100 drug treatment professionals: doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers from the 4 provinces of Pakistan and AJK participated in this training, comprising 9 courses on drug treatment in the previous 6 months, at 3 locations: Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad. The trainers for these trainings were ICAP (International Certified Addiction Professionals) professionals (doctors, psychologists, and sociologists) working in Pakistan in both 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 UTC training series is 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 counsellors and other health providers for professional certification at the entry level, by providing the latest information on SUDs and their treatment.
UPC
A large scale impact in advancing the capacity of the prevention workforce in Pakistan is being pursued via adapting and disseminating the three UPC coordinators series modules, which are:-
Course 1: Introduction to Prevention Science (Introduction);
Course 5: School-based Prevention Interventions (School); and
Course 8: Media-based Prevention Interventions (Media).
These key modules have been selected to provide the selected trainees with a solid overview and introduction to evidence-based prevention and its key concepts, and to school and media based prevention, which are presently the prevailing types of prevention undertaken in Pakistan. Given the breadth of the entire coordinators series, it is deemed most feasible to start the work via these three modules.
UTC
The 100 drug dependence treatment practitioners were trained on the Basic Level UTC Curricula 1-8, including 4A, to then have a cadre of 44 Pakistan National Trainers on Basic Level UTC (1-8), and to support credentialling by ICCE through Training of Trainers (ToT). These trainings will be followed up by a refresher course leading to certification to ‘International Certified Addiction Professional’ (ICAP) in quarter 1 of 2019. The successful candidates will be able to attend the ToT, to increase and strengthen the services of drug dependence treatment in the country (details of UTC modules below).
Talking to the media the Chief Guest, Secretary Ministry of Narcotics Control (MNC) Mr. Arif Nawaz Khan, stated that drug prevention and drug dependence treatment needs collective action from the government, private, and non-governmental organizations working in the fields of drug prevention, treatment, education, justice, communication, social welfare, women’s affairs, police, prisons, and other law enforcing agencies to be effective and to stand hand-in-hand in providing needs based and quality services.
‘Preventing drug use before it begins is the most cost-effective, common-sense approach to promoting safe and healthy communities. Young people deserve every opportunity to live up to their full potential, therefore exposure to scientific and evidence-based drug prevention interventions increases their chances of refraining from drug use. Successful prevention strategies also incorporate the cultural, gender, and age-specific needs of the people who are vulnerable to drug use. Prevention efforts must address all stages of life; from infancy to adulthood.’
Mr. Cesar Guedes, Country Representative UNODC, said in his remarks that ‘Putting science into practice, with a special focus on capacity building for the delivery of evidence-based drug treatment and prevention services in Pakistan through the implementation of the Universal Treatment Curriculum (UTC) and the Universal Prevention Curriculum (UPC) training strategy, will remain prime for UNODC.’
Dr. Manzoor ul Haq, Advisor on Drug Demand Reduction, Treatment, and Prevention, Sub Programme III of Country Programme II for Pakistan, noted in his remarks that a total of 9 UTC curricula were conducted for 100 professionals; and that 3 UPC curricula would be piloted in Pakistan, to complete in 5 months’ time in Islamabad.
Funding
The current UTC and UPC trainings comprise a 2 years’ project supported by the US State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).
For more information, contact:
National Information Officer
United Nations Information Centre (UNIC)
Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-8355720
Cell: +92-300-8553790
Email: ishrat.rizvi@unic.org