Today, on International Overdose Awareness Day, we remind about the opportunity for partners and family members of drug addicts to take emergency training for overdose help with Naloxone.
Focusing on Stopping Overdoses Safely the joint UNODC/WHO "S-O-S Initiative" is currently being implemented in Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. The Ukrainian Institute on Public Health Policy is implementing a project in our country.
The World Drug Report 2019 by UNODC estimates the number of opioid users at 53 million and opioids being responsible for two thirds of 585,000 people who died as a result of drug use in 2017. According to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, there were 26 260 cases of drug overdose in our country last year. 202 people died from a drug overdose - 3 of them under 19 years old.
Naloxone has been traditionally used by medical staff to treat opioid overdose. The goals of "S-O-S Initiative" include saving lives by making Naloxone and training on overdose risk and overdose management available to all people likely to witness an overdose, including peers and family members. The training will be delivered by project-trained trainers - physicians and social workers.
In Kyiv, you can get Naloxone injection kits and training on using it on the Sociotherapy Clinic SMT sites, as well as on the basis of NGOs "Convictus Ukraine" and "Eney Club".