Welcome!

Welcome to PSI's IDU Blog.

I hope you'll find this a useful way to keep up-to-date on important new IDU-related issues.

I want to point out - I'm not an expert Blogger. A Blog simply seemed to be the most convenient medium to get information to you all. So this is an experiment. If you have suggestions about how to improve this service, please contact me or Mariah.

I wanted to thank Haneefa Saleem, Mary Warsh, and Mariah Preston who did most of the leg work to get this up and running.

Now, to work...

In this inaugural message, I wanted to inform you of a recent study published showing the efficacy of using Naloxone to reduce deaths from overdose among IDUs.

Go to: http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/5/1/2

Overdose is one of the major causes of death among IDUs, and in some parts of the world (including many places in the US, like California) is one of the leading causes of death among youth, overall. Naloxone is a cheap (about $1), harmless antidote that can save someone in overdose from dying.

PSI is not yet running any interventions to prevent OD deaths, but we are actively exploring the possibility of doing so, through Naloxone distribution. If there is a significant OD problem in your country, you might consider this as a potential program option. (Contact me or Mariah for technical assistance.)

FYI, early in his tenure, Karl Hofmann approved PSI Central Asia to launch a Naloxone program, if we could find funding. (We're still searching for that funding.) We already have a draft DALY worked out to measure the health impact for preventing overdose deaths. And let me just say that the country that launches a Naloxone program will likely accrue significant DALYs per dollar spent.

Cheers
Rob