PAHO launches on-line courses  to train health personnel in the detection and management of people with problems related to the use of alcohol and other drugs,

Today, the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) launched free online courses to train health personnel in the detection and management of people with problems related to the use of alcohol and other drugs, as well as public policies to reduce the demand for both alcohol and drugs.

These courses are available online for physicians and nurses, social workers, professionals who work with young people or in detention centers, among others, for the purpose of strengthening health sector response and introducing effective interventions into routine primary care. The training ranges from how to detect symptoms of alcohol or drug abuse to how to conduct a brief intervention and refer individuals to more extensive treatment. The public policy trainings cover the effectiveness of regulations on control of supply and demand, harm reduction, treatment, and health education.

These courses—four in Spanish and two in English—are available on the website of the Virtual Campus for Public Health— http://www.campusvirtualsp.org/?q=en. They are free of charge and are available on demand for individual study. In each course, most of the modules have an audio explanation, written course content, and reference materials, and some also have videos to demonstrate examples. Students take self-evaluations to advance from one module to the next.  > > > >  Read More