International Overdose Awareness Day; Time to Remember, Time to Act

The HSE and partners, the National Family Support Network and UISCE (Union for improved Services, Communication and Education) are marking International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) to help raise awareness of the impact of drug overdoses on individuals, their families and loved ones. The IOAD is an annual event that takes place every year on 31st August.

The day aims to raise awareness of overdose and reduce the stigma of drug-related deaths whilst allowing us to acknowledge the grief felt by families and friends.  This important day is about remembering those who have lost loved ones or suffered permanent injury as a result of drug overdose. It aims to spread the message that the tragedy of overdose death and injury is preventable; the theme for 2017 is Time to Remember, Time to Act.

Sadie Grace, CEO of the National Family Support Network, “The National Family Support Network knows first-hand the devastation and hurt which family members experience as a result of a drug related death. Naloxone offers a beacon of hope to family members and people who use drugs in reducing drug related deaths, injury, and harm and we support all measures to promote the awareness, training and use of Naloxone in the community”.

The most recently published statistics on overdose mortality rates in Europe is estimated at 18.3 deaths per million population aged 15–64. The highest rates are reported in Estonia (113 per million), Sweden (93 per million) and Ireland (71 per million).  In 2014, the World Health Organisation recommended that countries expand naloxone access (opioid antidote) to people likely to witness an overdose in their community, such as friends, family members, partners of people who use drugs, and social workers.  In most countries, naloxone is often accessible only through hospitals and ambulance crews.  In 2015 the HSE followed that WHO recommendation with the development of a demonstration project to introduce Naloxone into local communities.

Hannah Rodrigues, Coordinator of UISCE,  "On International Overdose Day, I'm glad that we can raise awareness of overdose and also to focus on reducing the harmful impact that stigma of drug-related death has on the lives of people who use drugs. So many families and friends of people who have died or been badly damaged from overdose are suffering and I want to acknowledge their grief.  USICE recognizes how spreading the word about Naloxone is key to keep people alive”.

Denis O’Driscoll, Chief Pharmacist for HSE Addiction Services says, “To date, we have trained 840 people in the use of Naloxone and we look forward to rolling out more training in 2018 as we work to expand the service.  Our goal and the goal of our partners is to raise awareness of the effectiveness of Naloxone in saving lives and reducing the loss of life from an overdose.  I would advise any person who uses drugs, their friends and family to find out more about naloxone and how they can save a life if their loved one suffers an overdose.”

Additional Information

www.drugs.ie
www.hse.ie/overdose
www.overdoseday.com