Over 120 members of the penitentiary staff were trained on long-term Opioid Agonist Treatment (OAT) in a first cascade training held for penitentiary system personnel (doctors, nurses, social workers, psychologists, regime and security staff) in penitentiary institutions in Georgia.

Access to OAT has increased significantly in the civil sector during the past few years, while in prisons OAT accessibility is still low. Despite OAT being currently provided in two prisons, the long-term maintenance OAT is planned to be gradually introduced to all penitentiary institutions in Georgia. Therefore, raising awareness of the penitentiary staff on OAT-related issues is of great importance for improving the provision of therapy and ensuring smooth introduction of long-term maintenance OAT in prisons.

This training is organised in the framework of the project “Enhancement of Human Rights and Health-Care Support to the Penitentiary System”. The Project is funded by the Council of Europe Action Plan for Georgia.