Changing Health Policy in Turkey: Public-Health Oriented Policy of Turkey Around 5C

Abstract

When the outcome document of the 2016 United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS 2016) on drugs was accepted unanimously by 193 member states, it has been recognized that ‘drug addiction is a complex multifactorial health disorder which has a chronic and relapsing nature. It means that drug addiction is regarded as a health disorder which can be treated and it is not the result of moral failure or criminal behaviour (Volkow et.al, 2017. Therefore, the outcome document clearly refers to a significant shift from security-based policies to public health policies regarding the drug addiction, that is considered a public health issue rather than a security concern. Historically, nation states regarded drug addiction as a security matter and policies were security driven. Because addictions were not accepted as health disorder and policies against drug addictions were mainly formed and implemented by security forces. One of the signatories of the document is Turkey, which signals that Turkey is also responsible from the major policy change and its implementation. This paper emphasizes on the questions such as what the current policy of Turkey in the fight against addictions is, what is new about the policy and how does the new policy can be explained through 5C referring change, coordination, cooperation, civil society involvement, and communication.

Keywords

• Health Policy
• Governance
• Public Health Policy
• 5C
• Addiction
• Health Policy, Governance, Public Health Policy, 5C,

References

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