Welcome to the 21st WCP Virtual Congress Program Scheduling

At the Commission of Narcotic Drugs (CND) 2020, UNODC and WHO jointly launched the International Standards for the Treatment of Drug Use Disorders to support UN member states in their effort of establishing science-based, human-rights-oriented, health-centred drug treatment systems and services. This development responds to the CND resolution 59/4 and outcome document of the UN general assembly special session on the world drug problem (UNGASS) 2016. Furthermore, as one of mechanisms to assist with implementation of the standards, UNODC and WHO, in collaboration with other international and regional agencies, have been developing subsets of the Quality Assurance Mechanism and Tools, which have been piloted in over twenty-four low and middle income countries in Asia, Middle-East, Africa and Latin America and Caribbean. Full piloting has been completed in Afghanistan and Nigeria and is ongoing in Pakistan and 11 Latin America and Caribbean countries including Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru. The QA tools could be utilized for monitoring and evaluation and continuous improvement of the quality of systems and services in scoring and colored schemes. In this symposium, development and contents of the Quality Assurance tools, experiences, qualitative and quantitative outcomes, and lessons-learned from those piloting will be shared with participants to discuss how to establish truly effective and efficient drug treatment systems and services at national level in support of recovery of the people and families affected by drug use and drug use disorders, with special attention to resource limited settings and vulnerable populations.