UNODC-WHO Training in Argentina on the Management of Substance Use & Substance Use Disorders during Pregnancy

A total of 35 participants took part in this training that was organized by WHO and UNODC together with PAHO, SEDRONAR, Hospital der Mar, and the generous support from the U.S. State Department Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) on 11-13 November 2019, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

This training aimed at providing technical guidance for health care providers managing women from conception to birth and during the postnatal period, and their infants, on the identification and management of substance use disorders in pregnant women.

Use of alcohol, illicit drugs and other psychoactive substances during pregnancy can lead to multiple health and social problems for both mother and child. Dependence on alcohol and other drugs can also severely impair an individual's functioning as a parent, spouse or partner and instigate and trigger gender-based and domestic violence, thus significantly affecting the physical, mental and emotional development of children. Recognizing pregnancy as a period of opportunities for women, their partners and other people living in their household to change patterns of alcohol and other substance use, it is important to assist women who are pregnant, or have recently had a child, and who use alcohol or drugs or who have a substance use disorder, to achieve healthy outcomes for themselves and their fetus or infant.