UNODC Iran organizes a training on diagnosis and treatment of opioids overdose and withdrawal
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In commemoration of the International Overdose Awareness Day on 31 August, the UNODC Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighbouring Countries, as an integral part of international community, convened a three-day regional in-service training of trainers (TOT) workshop on "Diagnosis and Treatment of Opioids Overdose, and Withdrawal" in Loghman Hakim Hospital, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran on 27-29 August 2019.
The event was organized in close collaboration with UNODC Global Programme and UNODC Country Office in Iran with full support from Drug Control Headquarters. The aim was to scale up overdose prevention intervention in the region and ensure that emergency room interventions for acute drug intoxication and overdose cases in hospitals as well as in community settings are available and accessible to people who use drugs in eight regional programme countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
During the opening ceremony, attended by a number of high ranking officials, including Islamic Republic of Iran Drug Control Headquarters, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, UNODC Iran Country Office, and 16 international and regional professionals, Mr. Alexander Fedulov, the UNODC Iran Country Representative welcomed the participants and stated: : "By participating in this regional workshop, we wish to join all national and international communities to remember thousands of people who die each year from drug overdose and wish to join all national and international communities to combat this humanitarian crisis through training potential first responders in overdose management, to set up evidence-based overdose prevention and treatment programmes in the regional countries."
The workshop was successful in establishing a forum for exchanging best practices and experiences in overdose management at the regional level. Three international and national trainers Professor Bruno Megarbane from Paris Diderot University, Dr. Rebecca McDonald from King's College London, and Dr. Hossein Hassanian-Moghadam from Iran Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Science, covered issues pertaining to toxic kinetics, clinical effects, and laboratory interpretation. Dr. Rebecca McDonald specifically discussed about UNODC-WHO Stop-Overdose-Safely (S-O-S )Initiative and Implementation Protocol on community management of opioid overdose.
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During the workshop, regional participants had opportunity to visit the toxicological ICU, men poisoning ward, women poisoning ward and children ward of Loghman Hakim hospital. The participants were trained on how to treat opioids overdose patients in different wards based on their specific needs.
The activity was implemented with the support from the Government of Finland.