Applying principles of injury and infectious disease control to the opioid mortality epidemic in North America: critical intervention gaps.
J Public Health (Oxf)
; 42(4): 848-852, 2020 11 23.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31822889
ABSTRACT
North America has been experiencing an acute and unprecedented public health crisis involving excessive and increasing levels of opioid-related overdose mortality. In the present commentary, we examine current interventions (as existent mainly in Canada) to date and compare them against established intervention frameworks and practices in other areas of public health, specifically injury and infectious disease control. We observe that current interventions focusing on opioid drug safety or exposure-specifically those that focus on distinctly potent and toxic opioid products driving major increases in overdose mortality-may be considered the equivalent of 'agent-' or 'vector'-based interventions. Such interventions have been largely neglected in favor of 'host' (e.g., drug user-oriented) or 'environmental' measures among strategies to reduce opioid-related overdose, likely contributing to the limited efficacy of current measures. We explore potential reasons, implications and remedies for these gaps in the overall public health strategy employed towards improved interventions to reduce opioid-related health harms.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Bases de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Enfermedades Transmisibles
/
Epidemias
/
Trastornos Relacionados con Opioides
Límite:
Humans
País/Región como asunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Public Health (Oxf)
Año:
2020
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Nueva Zelanda