Approach to the Impact of the Pandemic in Addiction Treatment Centers in some Latin American Countries

Abstract

Introduction: treatment centers for psychoactive substance users in Latin America were affected by the pandemic and had to reconvert treatment modalities incorporating virtual therapies, in many occasions for vulnerable populations living in neighborhoods with low connectivity and difficulty in accessing telephone or computer equipment. Questions arose regarding the demand, accessibility, modality, continuity of the treatments and the changes in the consumption profiles against which the study posed as a general objective to dimension the impact of the pandemic and the isolation measures in 55 addiction treatment centers identifying changes in the demand for treatment, in the consumption profiles and systematizing the main measures taken by the institutions to develop the treatments within this context. Results the study characterized the demand in times of pandemic in terms of an increase of dual patients, the facilitation of treatments for patients with remote residences, and with a decrease of the accessibility to the therapies for patients with scarce economic resources without advanced telephony
or computer means. Conclusions: all residential centers implemented care protocols and both users and families showed a higher level of awareness of the problem of psychoactive substance use.