National DSD Integrated Programme and Web App ASSIST Launch

This launch event is in response to the call for integrated implementation of services in institutions of higher learning and colleges, especially, at the primary level of intervention by respective stakeholders to facilitate integrated early intervention and prevention programmes with a specific focus on social crime prevention, risky substance use, and gender-based violence.

The newly developed Web App version of the WHO ASSIST (The Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test) represents an important tool in the detection and provision of accessible intervention strategies for harmful substance use.

The tool is earmarked to improve the ability of the country, at various entry points across health and social service sites, to map the levels of risk across various substances of use and misuse within the country and is thus set to reimagine effective passive data collection and mapping for substance use disorder risk across South Africa.