To create awareness on the adverse health impact of addictive substances and assist individuals in quitting them, NIMHANS will conduct a workshop for nursing personnel from Namma Clinics in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Through this workshop, NIMHANS aims to bridge the gap between primary prevention and tertiary interventions for substance use disorders, as well as for the physical illnesses directly resulting from, or aggravated by, the use of addictive substances.
Two vital resource materials, Nitya Amulya, a video-based learning resource for promoting substance-free life in women, and Integrated Intervention for General Healthcare Settings, a module in a flip-book format, for guiding healthcare providers to provide substance use cessation interventions to individuals seeking care for various health problems, will be released at the workshop.
Preventive care for he control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is the major goal of Namma Clinics that were launched earlier this year by the State government. NCDs account for 77% of deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries (WHO, 2021). The use of addictive substances, particularly tobacco and alcohol, is recognised as a major (and preventable) risk factor for many NCDs. In this context, this workshop is aimed at training nursing personnel, who form a chief human resource at Namma Clinics.
Vulnerable group
The increasing use of substances among women, particularly chewable forms of tobacco such as kaddipudi processed leaf of tobacco plant), thambaku (tobacco), and even alcohol, is of increasing concern. These substances pose a serious threat to women’s health, coupled with the risk of passing on the substances into the bloodstream of their babies during pregnancy and breastfeeding. In this context, Nitya Amulya is particularly aimed at preventing, or helping women to quit substance use.
In general, both the resources will enable healthcare personnel at Namma Clinics and other peripheral health centres, to prevent substance use and promote healthy lifestyles in the community, according to a statement from NIMHANS.
