Volume 38, no. 4, April 2025. Quality of medicines: hit the target! An educational path to engage the public in drug control activities. Synthetic drugs: Italy's role in the US-led global coalition to protect public health. The Training Plan for the Development of the Competencies in Health, Environment, Biodiversity and Climate - SABiC

Abstracts:
Quality of medicines: hit the target! An educational path to engage the public in drug control activities
The article describes the activities carried out by the National Centre for the Control and Evaluation of Medicines of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (National Institute of Health in Italy) during the European Researchers' Night, aimed at engaging the public in understanding the key elements related to the control of medicines. Educational paths were developed for both children and adults, with the goal of explaining, in a simple and funny way, the various aspects of drug formulation and control. Models and games demonstrated the diversity of pharmaceutical forms and their respective sites of administration; some analytical techniques used in drug control were explained through hands-on teaching. Additionally, children were involved in pharmaceutical preparations, while adults were shown a brochure on the issue of falsification of medicines. The experience at the booths highlighted a strong interest by the general public in these topics.

Synthetic drugs: Italy's role in the US-led global coalition to protect public health
The National Center on Addiction and Doping of the Italian National Institute of Health (ISS), through its Director Simona Pichini, represents Italy in one of the working group of the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats, launched by the US government in July 2023 in response to what has become a full-scale emergency in the United States. The working group, with Italy serving as co-chair of Group 2, focuses particularly on improving data collection, enhancing information sharing, and integrating resources to strengthen the collective capacity to respond to emerging trends in the field of synthetic drugs.

The Training Plan for the Development of the Competencies in Health, Environment, Biodiversity and Climate - SABiC
The "Training Plan for the Development of Competencies in Health, Environment, Biodiversity, and Climate" (SABiC Training Plan) was developed by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (National Institute of Health in Italy) in collaboration with Italian Regions and Autonomous Provinces, the Ministry of Health, and other sector stakeholders, as part of Investment 1.3 of the Health, Environment, Biodiversity and Climate Operational Plan (PRACSI) within the National Complementary Investment Plan and the National recovery resilience plan - Mission 6 Health. The SABiC Plan, structured around ten thematic areas, promotes the adoption of the One Health/Planetary Health approach and active training methodologies such as Problem-Based Learning and Competency-Based Education. By 2025-2026, at least 14 distance learning courses will be available on the EDUISS platform to ensure common literacy and widely accessible training for professionals, covering both healthcare and environmental sectors.