Developing an Advocacy Campaign

The Opioid Epidemic

In October 2018, the White House declared opioid abuse a national emergency. Opioids are painkillers containing oxycodone and synthesized fentanyl, which is a powerful painkiller. The availability of this drug has made it easy for use for medical purposes and recreational purposes, due to its high addiction risk. The drug has a sedative effect which regulates a part of the brain responsible for respiration, and hence its abuse has been linked to respiratory failures and consequent death. The opioid abuse has been an area of healthcare concern in the US(Cicero and Ellis, 2015). The crisis has been caused by the increased related deaths of the drug since its use in the 90s and later on abuse that spiraled out of control. In the modern world, the opioid is responsible for over 72,000 deaths in the US according to the CDC reports of 2017.

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Veterans are more likely to abuse the drug due to the prescription for the medication to help with post-combat injuries. Since women are more likely to experience pain, they are more likely to use and abuse the drug than men. The young adults of between 18 and 25 years are the most abusers of the drug. There have been rising cases of adverse effects on newborns due to the abuse of the drug during pregnancy. More than 2 million Americans have abused the drug in one way or the other(Pacula, 2017). More the, 130 people died as a result of the drug abuse in 2016 all through to 2017, according to the CDC. In 2017 more than 11 million Americans misused prescription drugs. Currently, around 115 Americans lose their lives daily due to adverse effects of opioid misuse.

Turn the tide Campaign

This campaign is an initiative by American women healthcare providers targeting the public opioid crisis. The campaign is nationwide, and it addresses education against the abuse of opioids to empower people on the risk and preventive strategies against addiction. Secondly, the screening of our patients will enable healthcare providers to use evidence-based practices to help the victims. Thirdly the campaign seeks to start a dialogue and keep people talking about the abuse of the prescription drugs and addressing the stigma associated with the abuse of opioids. The campaign aims at decreasing cases of the violation of the drug through the AMA taskforce that seeks to reduce opioid abuse.

The Rx Awareness campaign

The Rx campaign was launched by the CDC in 2017, to combat the epidemic of prescription opioid abuse. The communication campaign’s primary objective was to increase awareness and build knowledge on the risks associated with the violence of the opioids and the related deaths associated with overdoses. The program will also target to reach out to people of all demographics with real-life narrations of people who have been affected by the disorder and the people who have successfully overcome addiction. Videos, audio content, banners, and social media initiatives were used nationwide to reach as many people as possible. Thus the result of the campaign was to improve access to prevention, treatment, recovery from addiction and appropriate procedures. The campaign also targets at enhancing the availability of overdose enhancing drugs, improving dissemination of relevant data and reports about the vice and providing relevant research on ache and opioid addiction as well as evidence-based solutions.

Attributes that made those campaigns effective:
Turn the tide campaign attributes

The campaign was effective due to the proximity of the opioid abusers, and the US is responsible for prescribing the drugs including opioids to patients with different ailments. Their intervention in developing a campaign against the vice is a significant boost for the war against the opioids abuse from patients and especially women and pregnant mothers who may abuse the drug to avoid pain or aches(Pacula, 2017). Moreover, the campaign can target women who are more vulnerable as they understand them better and hence can recommend viable strategies to patients who may be addicted to the opioids abuse and those who fall within the risk class.

The Rx Awareness campaign attributes

The Rx awareness campaign was successful due to the strategies used to advocate against the abuse of opioids abuse. First, the use of communications strategies such as reports, banners, social media and real-life experiences to reach out to the affected population made the campaign effective. Secondly, the CDC being a government agency was better positioned in fighting the vice due to their strength in possessing firsthand information regarding the affected people all over the US(Zdanowicz, 2015). The campaign also targeted the states with the most significant number of opioid abuse and was able to employ narrative strategies to make sure the message is delivered to the victims. Indeed, the heartbreaking stories were effective in creating awareness among the vulnerable groups and for the people who are interested in beating the addictive habit.

A description of the public health issue and proposed policy solution
“It’s not cool” Campaign

The rates of opioid misuse and addiction are on the rise as over 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain and are at the risk of using and possibly misusing prescriptions to opioids. According to the National Institute of Drugs Abuse, more than 115 individuals die from the epidemic every day. Over 11 million people misused the drug, and the number is rising. Over 2.1 Million people are currently living with the disorder, and over 40% of drug overdoses have been linked to opioid overdose. The cost of the opioid epidemic surpassed $ 500 billion in 2017 regarding economic costs(Zdanowicz, 2015). Indeed with a third of the US population using painkillers, it is crucial to stemming the vice early. Indeed the most vulnerable people of addiction are young people, and hence this campaign will target the young people in a nationwide campaign in the US.

Campaign objectives and policy recommendations:
The goals of the campaign will be to:

Improving the distribution of naloxone to help the youth trapped in addiction and enhance the addiction management capacities
Training and involvement of health service providers to lend a helping hand in reaching out to the affected individuals to offer help to the victims and highly vulnerable youth
Step up awareness through youth programs and events that are centered on the youth and the most vulnerable people such as women

Public policy Changes recommendations:

Advocate for policy regulation of the use of opioids to recommend development of alternative painkillers which will not be as addictive.
It is coming up with digital prescription monitoring to enable easy tracking of abuse cases. This will make it difficult for the abusers to access the drug multiple times for abuse.
Funding to increase of addiction rehabilitation centers for the opioid abuse addicted patients

References

The prescription opioid addiction and abuse epidemic: how it happened and what we can do about it. (2015). The Pharmaceutical Journal. doi:10.1211/pj.2015.20068579

Cicero, T. J., & Ellis, M. S. (2015). Abuse-Deterrent Formulations and the Prescription Opioid Abuse Epidemic in the United States. JAMA Psychiatry, 72(5), 424. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2014.3043

Pacula, R. (2017). Funding Considerations in the Fight Against the Opioid Epidemic: What the Science Tells Us. doi:10.7249/ct469

Zdanowicz, M. M. (2015). Prescription Opioid Abuse and the Heroin Epidemic in the USA. Journal of Community & Public Health Nursing, 1(1). doi:10.4172/2471-9846.1000e

Developing an Advocacy Campaign