MadeleineHughes_GLPH171_Assessment4_Outline
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Queens University *
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Apr 3, 2024
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Assessment 4 – Exploring Health and Health Equity Intervention Outline Subject: How health and health equity are impacted by the opioid crisis – intervention will be discussed at the regional level of Ontario, Canada. The onset of today’s opioid crisis, now ranking as one of the most devastating public health catastrophes to overtake society, dates back almost three decades to the Food and Drug Administration
’s approval of OxyContin. This triggered the first wave of deaths due to legal opioid prescriptions.
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The opioid crisis has since accounted for the loss of over 600,000 lives, with 1.2 million more deaths projected across North America by the end of the decade.
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In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic has further given rise to surging death trends, both masking and amplifying the continued lack of access to quality care and prevention with regard to substance abuse. While society faces the burden of preventable death, there is an irrefutable, underlying relationship between the opioid crisis and several social and physical determinants of health. These include low income, substandard living and working conditions, age and sex demographics, psychosocial difficulties, healthcare access, as well as education. These have unsurprisingly been exacerbated by the recent pandemic, especially regarding disruption to employment, housing, and support mechanisms nationwide.
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Those directly affected by the opioid crisis further perpetuate its impact to millions more through related difficulties which involve homelessness, joblessness, family disruption, and truancy.
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Public health is fundamental in addressing the above-mentioned determinants of health, and subsequently reducing health inequities that exist for specific groups in the context of the opioid crisis. Disproportionately affected populations may include Indigenous and ethno-
racial communities, youth and young adults, individuals with low income, and remote communities.
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In Ontario, the Canadian Mental Health Association deems harm-reduction as an evidence-based, client-centered approach seeking to reduce the health and social harms 1
Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario. Ontario’s escalating overdose crisis. Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario. Published October 2023. Accessed March 13, 2024. https://rnao.ca/media/6688/download?inline
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Feldscher K. What led to the opioid crisis—and how to fix it. Harvard School of Public Health. Published February 9, 2022. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/what-led-to-the-opioid-crisis-and-how-to-fix-it/
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Sulley S, Ndanga M. Inpatient Opioid Use Disorder and Social Determinants of Health: A Nationwide Analysis of the National Inpatient Sample (2012-2014 and 2016-2017). Cureus
. 2020;12(11). doi:https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.11311
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Feldscher K. What led to the opioid crisis—and how to fix it. Harvard School of Public Health. Published February 9, 2022. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/what-led-to-the-opioid-crisis-and-how-to-fix-it/
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Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit . Health Equity Impact Assessment Summary – Canadian Drug Policy
.;Appendix B: Health Equity Impact Assessment. Accessed March 13, 2024. https://www.simcoemuskokahealth.org/docs/default-source/TOPIC_Drugs/appendix-b---health-equity-impact-assessment-
summary.pdf?sfvrsn=2
associated with opioid use. Such services include low-barrier access to medications that help to reverse opioid overdose, safe consumption sites, and outpatient counselling and support.
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Connex Ontario. About Ontario’s Opioid Crisis | ConnexOntario Resource Hub. www.connexontario.ca. https://www.connexontario.ca/en-ca/resource-hub/entryid/13/about-ontarios-opioid-crisis
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