Background Emergency department (ED) visits are an opportunity to provide prevention services to people at high risk of overdose. Considering patients' resources to initiate and sustain recovery ("recovery capital") may be useful for tailoring ED services, although its relevance in this population is unknown.
In July 2012, the National Stop Transmission of Polio (NSTOP) program was established to support the Government of Nigeria in interrupting transmission of poliovirus and strengthen routine immunization (RI). NSTOP has approximately 300 staff members with the majority based at the Local Government Area (LGA) level in northern Nigeria.An internal assessment of NSTOP was conducted from November 2015 to February 2016 to document the program´s contribution to Nigeria´s immunization program and plan future NSTOP engagement. A mixed methods design was used, with data gathered from health facility, LGA, state, and national levels, through structured surveys, interviews, focus group discussions, and review of program records. Survey and expenditure data were summarized by frequency and trends over time, while interview and focus group data were analyzed qualitatively for key themes.The majority of the 111 non-NSTOP LGA respondents reported that NSTOP officers supported polio campaigns (100%) and supervised RI sessions (99.1%). Out of 181 respondents at health facility level, the majority reported that NSTOP trainings improved their knowledge (83.3%) and skills (76.2%) on RI, and NSTOP officers regularly supervised their RI sessions (96.7%). Most respondents reported that there would be a negative impact on immunization activities if NSTOP officers were withdrawn.Future implementation of NSTOP should be realigned to (a) give highest priority to mentoring LGA staff to build institutional capacity, (b) ensure increased capacity translates to improved provision of RI services, and (c) improve routine review of program monitoring data to assess progress in both polio and RI programs.
Drug overdoses were a leading cause of injury and death in the United States in 2021. Solitary drug use and solitary overdose deaths have remained persistent challenges warranting additional attention throughout the overdose epidemic. The goal of this narrative review is to describe recent global innovations in overdose detection technologies (ODT) enabling rapid responses to overdose events, especially for people who use drugs alone. We found that only a small number of technologies designed to assist in overdose detection and response are currently commercially available, though several are in the early stages of development. Research, development, and scale-up of practical, cost-effective ODTs remains a public health imperative. Equipping places where people live, learn, work, worship, and play with the necessary tools to detect and prevent overdose deaths could complement ongoing overdose prevention efforts.
Purpose Evaluate success of local flavored tobacco (FT) policies in reducing availability of FT products in California. Design Matched-jurisdiction cross-sectional design compared availability of FT at licensed tobacco retailers (LTR) in jurisdictions with and without such policies in 2013 and 2019. Flavor policy jurisdictions were split into strong and weak groups using Flavored Tobacco Policy Rating Rubric. Setting 32 local California jurisdictions Subjects Final sample included 306 LTR in 2013 and 1441 LTR in 2019. LTR were classified as convenience store, liquor store, pharmacy, small market, supermarket, gas station booth, tobacco/vape product store, or other. Measures Retail availability of menthol cigarettes and flavored non-cigarette tobacco. Analysis Logistic regression analysis including covariate (store type) determined whether differences existed in availability of FT in jurisdictions with and without FT policies. Percentage change assessed difference in proportion of retailers that sold FT in 2013 (i.e. before-policies-passed) and in 2019 (i.e. after-policies-became-effective). Results Strong flavor-policy jurisdictions significantly differed from matched no-policy jurisdictions in availability of menthol cigarettes (OR = .04, 95% CI: .02–.08) and flavored non-cigarette tobacco (OR = .07, 95% CI: .05–.11). From 2013 to 2019, these jurisdictions experienced significant declines in menthol cigarettes (87.9% to 35.4%) and flavored non-cigarette tobacco sales (63.8% to 37.0%). Conclusion Strong FT sales restriction policies appear to be effective in reducing availability of FT, thereby creating a healthier retail environment in California.
Policy and research on the implementation of services for people who inhale drugs lag behind similar efforts for people who inject drugs, limiting access to adequate harm reduction resources for people who inhale drugs. This commentary considers why supervised inhalation sites (SIS) are needed, highlights operational characteristics of four existing services, and advocates for future SIS research. Our hope is to encourage the expansion of SIS worldwide for overdose prevention and reduction of health inequities. Given the limited literature regarding SIS, more extensive study of these programs is warranted to incorporate inhalation into the implementation of supervised consumption sites to provide fair opportunities for all people who use drugs to do so safely without fear of stigma and overdose.
