Dear HIFA colleagues,
Thank you for your inputs so far to our discussion on the global opioid crisis.
Here are the 10 guiding questions from our working group:
1. How can we define opioid use disorders?
2. What is the current state of opioid misuse in your country?
3. Do people understand the health and socioeconomic damage caused by opioid misuse?
4. What can be done to raise public awareness about the harms of opioid misuse?
5. Role of the pharmaceutical industry
6. How can we identify and manage opioid use disorders?
7. What interventions are available in your countries when addressing opioid use disorders? What are the barriers to their implementation?
8. Do healthcare professionals have adequate knowledge to prevent and treat opioid use disorders in their patients?
9. What are the current national policies in your country?
10. Do you believe that current regulations are affecting the appropriate treatment of people with chronic pain for whom opioid use is indicated?
We shall ensure to cover 2-3 questions each week, but you are very welcome to comment on any of the above questions at any time. Indeed feel free to raise new questions.
Please send your contributions to: hifa@hifaforums.org
We continue to welcome new members with an interest in this topic and we look forward to hearing from them.
Here again is our landing page:
https://www.hifa.org/news/hifa-announces-deep-dive-discussion-global-opi...
and our background paper that starts to explore the above questions:
https://www.hifa.org/sites/default/files/articles/Opioids-10Qs.pdf
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org