Welcome to the ISSUP Paraguay National Chapter!
Currently, Paraguay has a network of people who work in areas of prevention, treatment and recovery support to counteract the problem of substance use, although there are many professionals who adopt the best strategy for adequate care, however, weaknesses in the approach are still identified, therefore it is recommended that more professionals be trained in evidence-based interventions. To achieve a comprehensive approach to substance use, training in interventions based on scientific evidence and international quality standards is recommended.
The National Chapter of ISSUP Paraguay is constituted due to the need to generate a space that integrates knowledge, efforts, resources in the effective and timely implementation of evidence-based interventions, in the area of prevention and treatment of drug use, strengthening the training and ongoing training of professionals.
The host organization is the Norberto Bobbio School of Government and Public Policy, which represents Paraguay for the International Society of Substance Use Professionals (ISSUP). It is a benchmark higher education institution in the country in training projects in the field of evidence-based demand reduction, it has a career at the Higher Education level (Higher Technician) in prevention of the use of psychoactive substances, which It was designed with the academic support of the International Consortium of Universities for Drug Demand Reduction (ICUDDR). It has trained the first technicians in "Monitoring and Evaluation with a focus on the Prevention of the Use of Psychoactive Substances in the School Environment", this course was developed at the request of the Ministry of Education and Sciences (MEC in Spanish) to train its technical officials in the area of prevention. Technical officials responsible for prevention from the National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD) also participated in this training.
Objectives of the ISSUP Paraguay Chapter:
- Create a national network of professionals in Paraguay linked to ISSUP to reaffirm support for drug demand reduction, prevention, treatment and recovery from substance use.
- Establish a prevention, treatment and recovery structure, based on a community model and with scope throughout the national territory.
- Train and advise State Agencies on prevention programs.
- Encourage the professionalization, certification, and accreditation of professionals from institutions that work in the prevention, treatment, and recovery of substance use to transform empirical practice into an evidence-based professional exercise.
- Deepen community prevention and treatment as an intervention methodology (research/action, participation, objective of social change, intersectoriality, etc.).
- Promote incidence in political instances as a strategy for transferring scientific knowledge to the decision-making sphere and the possibilities of establishing participation platforms in the design of public policies, free of conflicts of interest.
- Promote the prevention and treatment of people with substance use with the implementation of programs, taking into consideration the gender perspective, cultural context, and social inclusion, and thus take care of reducing the existing gap.
- Build alliances and sign agreements with government agencies and civil society organizations, to articulate actions and open spaces for professional practices related to the problem of drug use.
- Define drug policies, from a Public Health approach, respecting human rights, and based on scientific evidence.
- Motivate professionals working in the field of addictions to identify studies related to the reduction of drug demand, to create a database available for consultation.
The ISSUP Paraguay Chapter is a membership-based organization that encourages all those interested in the area of drug demand reduction to be part of this community that seeks to promote good practice, using quality standards and interventions. based on evidence, in order to consolidate professional networks to counteract the problem of addictions. Being part of the ISSUP Paraguay Chapter is totally free.
We warmly welcome you all!