International Overdose Awareness Day: August 31, 2022

International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) is a worldwide campaign to end overdose, remember without stigma those who have died, and acknowledge the grief of loved ones left behind. IOAD began in Australia in 2001 and is observed annually on August 31.

Thank you to Penington Institute for creating these and other campaign resources and making them available for download.

We are in a crisis.

“Provisional data from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics indicate that there were an estimated 100,306 drug overdose deaths in the United States during the 12-month period ending in April 2021, an increase of 28.5% from the 78,056 deaths during the same period the year before,” according to a CDC press release. Through their Opioid Data Dashboard, Illinois Department of Public Health reports a total of 2,944 opioid-related deaths in 2020. Meanwhile, Chicago Department of Public Health reports 1302 fatal opioid-related overdoses in 2020, which is more than Chicago’s homicide and traffic fatalities combined.

Let’s prevent overdose.

For IOAD this year, PHIMC is focused on harm reduction. We invite you to share the graphics in this email and/or join us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram on August 31. Harm reduction is about keeping people who use drugs alive and protecting their health.

Using a harm reduction framework, PHIMC works with direct service partners to incorporate a spectrum of strategies from safer substance use to managed substance use, addressing mental health and trauma and incorporating a non-judgmental, non-punitive, non-coercive approach. PHIMC partnerships ensure that the people most impacted have an authentic voice in creating programs and policies designed to serve them.

We invite you to click on each graphic to download and share with your community.

If you or someone you care about need(s) help with a possible substance use problem or need(s) help locating treatment services, please contact the Illinois Helpline for Opioids and Other Substances:

1-833-2FINDHELP (833-234-6343)
Text 833234
www.helplineil.org


The Helpline is a confidential and free service that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for individuals experiencing substance use disorders, families, providers, and anyone affected by substance use. Helpline specialists are trained in evidence-based approaches to help connect callers with harm reduction, recovery, and support services across the state.

International Overdose Awareness Day is a day to learn, act, and support one another.

We hope you will join PHIMC and our allies around the world in remembering those who have lost their lives to overdose or suffered permanent injury, celebrating those who have come out of the dark hole, victorious, offering support to one another, and preventing overdose in our communities.

Thank you for your commitment to public health.

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Illinois Helpline for Opioids and Other Substances is the only statewide, public resource for finding substance use treatment and recovery services in Illinois.

Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago (PHIMC) advances health justice and strengthens public health through innovation and partnerships that align people, strategies, and resources. Since 2018, PHIMC has partnered with Health Resources in Action (HRiA) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to manage outreach and community engagement for the Illinois Helpline for Opioids and other Substances.