I spent last week travelling in Adjumani district (located in Northern Uganda) as part of an exercise in improving the quality of immunization data through support supervision and mentor-ship. This required us as a team to visit as many of the health facilities in the district as possible. Due to the limited sources of our […]
Category: Poisonings
More background on our blogging team
Blog 3: So today I wanted to share some more background on our blogging team. As an applied social psychologist, I find this information very interesting indeed! What excites you about being part of the Injury Prevention social media editorial team? Sheree Bekker: The invaluable conversation that has sprung up around scholarly work through the […]
More background on our new blogging team
Today I will share more about our blogging team members. Blog 2: Explain your injury prevention research and interests. Sheree Bekker: My research investigates safety promotion and injury prevention policy and practice within community sport in Australia. I have a particular interest in dissemination and social marketing. The overall purpose of my research is to allow […]
Medical marijuana laws associated with decreased fatal opioid overdoses in the US
Really interesting paper published by Bachhuber and colleagues recently in JAMA Internal Medicine looking at the association between medical marijuana laws and opioid analgesic overdose in US states from 1999-2010. http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1898878 They found an association between states with medical marijuana laws and decreased fatal opioid overdoses. To be exact, a 24.8% decrease in fatal opioid […]
The next frontier in protecting children from recreational marijuana in Colorado
The U.S. state of Colorado operationalized the legalization of recreational marijuana at the beginning of this year. You can now walk into one of 34 marijuana dispensaries in the state and buy a diversity of marijuana products that range from just buds (which you smoke) to all kinds of edible products. The options go far […]
Buprenorphine
There is a very interesting in-depth series in the New York Times on the benefits and dangers of the use of buprenorphine to treat opioid addiction. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/health/in-demand-in-clinics-and-on-the-street-bupe-can-be-savior-or-menace.html Buprenorphine is a semi-synthetic opioid that has become a major treatment option for those who are addicted and dependent on opioids. At the same time it has itself […]
Preventing Unintentional Ingestion of Marijuana by Children
Editor Note – The following guest blog post is by Jodi Duke, MPH. Jodi is a PhD student in the Health Systems, Management and Policy Department at the Colorado School of Public Health. Disclosure – I am a coauthor on Health Impact Assessment discussed in this post. A number of states and municipalities in the […]
CNS Prescription Drug Abuse
A recent report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in the United States highlights the fact that prescription drug abuse is not limited to painkillers but extends into other classes of drugs including central nervous systems stimulants. http://www.samhsa.gov/data/spotlight/spot103-CNS-stimulants-adults.pdf These stimulants are used to treat conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder but […]
Opioid Pain Reliever Overdoses Among U.S. Women
A recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlights the worsening epidemic of deaths due to overdoses of prescription pain relievers among U.S. women. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6226a3.htm?s_cid=mm6226a3_w The report, which examined data from the National Vital Statistics System and the Drug Abuse Warning Network found that the number […]