KETHEA will organize a special event entitled “Evidence-Based Treatment and Therapeutic Communities as an Integral Part of the Health System” at the 62nd session of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) at UN headquarters in Vienna.
The event is co-sponsored by the Governments of Greece and Spain, World Federation of Therapeutic Communities and Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Section United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and Association Proyecto Hombre (Spain),
Description of the event
Drug Use Disorders (DUDs) constitute a public health, developmental and security problem both in developed and developing countries worldwide. Nowadays, scientific evidence has indicated S/DUDs are a multifactorial disorder and associated with health problems, poverty, violence, criminal behaviour, and social exclusion. Strengthening prevention and treatment for people with DUDs is an essential demand reduction strategy of significant public health importance.
The UNODC-WHO International Standards for the Treatment of Drug Use Disorders encourages all Member States to consider expanding the coverage and improving the quality of drug treatment systems, interventions and policies based on scientific evidence. The Standards recommend comprehensive and balanced approaches, and suggest science- and human rights-based treatment modalities such as outreach, outpatient, inpatient and residential treatment programmes. Therapeutic Communities (TCs) are one of the most common and most widely available treatment models worldwide. Scientific evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of TCs is though still limited including due to the variety of approaches implemented in the framework of the TC models and the difficulty to develop study designs to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of the models.
This side event will focus on the latest science of TCs models in the field of drug-dependence treatment and care. Relevant outcomes of research studies that show the efficiency of the TC model when it is integrated in the Health System will be presented and explored. It will also be the occasion to present specific examples from around the world of TCs that are indispensable elements of various national continuums of care.
The event will take place at Conference Room MBR-A, on Monday, 18 March from 13.00 to 15.00 p.m.
