Education and training on addiction psychiatry in low and middle income countries: Observations from existing literature and recommendations going ahead

Background

Addictive disorders are a significant contributor to the global burden of disease. The burden of addictive disorders in LMIC is expected to grow further over the coming years.

Aims

In this article we present the observations from the existing literature on the current status of education and training on addiction psychiatry in LMIC and provide recommendation on way forward for this specialized field of psychiatry.

Materials and Methods

We searched electronic databases of PubMed to access the literature on the current status of education and training on addiction psychiatry. Additional searches were also conducted in other database of Google Scholar for potential ‘grey’ literature.

Results

We were able to identify a total of 11 relevant articles.

Discussion

Currently there is limited published literature on education and training on addiction psychiatry from the LMICs.

Conclusions

Strengthening of the training on addictive disorders shall not only help bridge the gap of the unmet need for the evidence-based interventions of addictive disorders across these countries it shall also help enhance the research capacity on addictive disorders in these countries.