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New York City, like the rest of the nation, remains in the midst of a drug overdose epidemic. In 2017, more New Yorkers died from drug overdose than from suicide, homicide, and motor vehicle accidents combined; opioids were involved in 82% of those deaths.

DOHMH has successfully implemented a number of interventions and programs to address the overdose epidemic; however, sustained high rates of overdose death in NYC warrant expansion of current initiatives and implementation of new strategies.

The Fund for Public Health in NYC (FPHNYC), in collaboration with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYCDOHMH), was recently awarded the Overdose Data to Action (ODTA) $2.4 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The ODTA program uses a multi-faceted approach to combat the opioid crisis, which includes:

  • Surveying people who use opioids.
  • Educating clinicians around prescription drug monitoring programs.
  • Facilitating an ongoing public health-public safety partnership.
  • Enhancing community-level interventions in targeted neighborhoods.
  • Developing anti-stigma trainings and toolkits for clinicians.

DOHMH’s data-driven approach to the opioid epidemic has served as a model for jurisdictions across the US. ODTA funding will enable DOHMH to target, enhance, and evaluate high quality surveillance and prevention strategies to decrease the rate of opioid misuse and opioid use disorder, increase the provision of evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder, decrease the rate of emergency department (ED) visits due to misuse, or opioid use disorder, and decrease the rate of drug overdose deaths, including deaths involving prescription and illicit opioids.

“With this new grant, we’re joining our partners at the NYC Health Department to curb the opioid epidemic that has impacted the lives of so many New Yorkers. We know by scaling evidence-based programs there is potential for people who abuse opioids to reclaim their lives.”

Sara Gardner, FPHNYC Executive Director

FPHNYC and the Health Department have a history of implementing successful programs through CDC grant funding. DOHMH has been at the forefront of drug surveillance and research across the country for the past 15 years and has established a comprehensive public health surveillance system with broad and deep relevant expertise to monitor, track, and respond to drug-related harms in NYC.

This award allows DOHMH to enhance its multi-pronged and comprehensive initiatives and efforts to monitor, track, and respond to drug-related harms in NYC.

This publication was supported by Grant or Cooperative Agreement number NU17CE924978-01-00, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Department of Health and Human Services.