Enhancing Clinical Skills In Addiction Treatment

MELAKA (Malaysia), July 11 (Bernama) -- The Colombo Plan strongly encourages all individuals working in the field of addiction treatment to enhance their clinical skills by enrolling in the credentialling programme of the Asia Centre for Certification and Education of Addiction Professionals (ACCE). ACCE Director Tay Bian How said many countries had encountered challenges, including a high relapse rate, limited access to treatment, untrained addiction practitioners and a dearth of evidence-based initiatives which had an impact on the treatment outcome. "According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in the year 2010 alone, about 230 million people, which is five per cent of the world's adult population, are estimated to have used an illicit substance at least once (World Drug Report 2012)," Tay told reporters at the International Conference on Substance Use Disorders at a hotel here on Wednesday. The ACCE programme offers three levels of credentials, which are Basic Level, Clinical Level and Advanced Level, as an initiative endeavour to train, professionalise and expand the treatment workforce in the region. Tay said the ACCE credentialling process validated the skills, knowledge and competence of individuals who performed their duties optimally within an addiction-treatment setting. Chairman of the State Women, Family Development and Welfare Committee Norpipah Abdul, who is also chairman of the National Association Against Drug Abuse (Pemadam) in southern state of Melaka, represented the chief minister at the opening ceremony. This two-day conference, attended by more than 150 delegates from all over Asia, is designed to introduce the training and certification/credentialling process of the ACCE to professionalise the addiction-treatment staff as well as to provide latest information and evidence-based practices in the field of Substance Used Disorders (SUD) treatment that is expected to impact the quality of care and treatment outcomes. -- BERNAMA