Startling increases in nationwide deaths from drug overdoses, alcohol, and suicides constitute a public health crisis – spurring an urgent call for a National Resilience Strategy to stem these “deaths of despair.” The proposal is outlined in a special commentary in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.
John Auerbach, President and CEO of Trust for America’s Health, and Benjamin Miller, Chief Strategy officer of Well Being Trust, outline their organizations’ proposal for a National Resilience Strategy – a comprehensive approach to reversing these mortality trends while improving behavioral health services and prioritizing prevention by supporting healthier communities.
Proposed National Response to ‘Triple Epidemic’ of Drug, Alcohol and Suicide Deaths
“The United States is facing a triple set of epidemics – more than 1 million Americans have died from drug overdoses, alcohol, and suicides between 2006 and 2015,” Mr. Auerbach and Dr. Miller write. Last year, their organizations issued a report, titled “Pain in the Nation,” projecting that drug, alcohol, and suicide deaths could reach 1.6 million over the next decade, based on trends since 1999.
Updated projections using data from 2015-16 suggest that the number could exceed 2 million. “This would mean more than 287,700 individuals could die from these three causes in the year 2025, double the current number who died in 2016,” according to the authors. The most recent data show disproportionately large increases in drug deaths among racial/ethnic minorities, especially black Americans.