Professionalising the Addiction Treatment Services in Asia

The Colombo Plan Asian Center for Certification and Education of Addiction Professionals (ACCE) aims to professionalise the addiction treatment providers and services in the Asia-Pacific region. The initiative aims to address the growing problem of drug abuse by creating a cadre of trained staff who are equipped to utilise evidence based practices in the region. The ACCE initiative has already certified 35 Master Trainers and is in the process of training and certifying 127 national level trainers from the Colombo Plan member countries as well as 571 treatment practitioners from Afghanistan. The ACCE programmes have motivated a number of service providers and individuals with substance use disorders to be trained and credentialed. The ACCE has the status of a Certified Education Provider of the Association for Addiction Professionals (NAADAC) in the USA. The Colombo Plan’s ACCE initiative is well on its way in addressing the dearth of evidence-based practitioners and trained addiction treatment professional and in the region and playing a vital role in professionalizing the addiction treatment services in the region. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/ijptsud.v1i1.5911 International Journal of Prevention and Treatment of Substance Use Disorder Vol.1(1) 2013: 51-6