{"id":1479,"date":"2020-08-31T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-31T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bccdcfound.wpengine.com\/whats-new\/the-overdose-crisis-covid-19-support-peers-through-two-emergencies\/"},"modified":"2024-02-06T23:23:23","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T23:23:23","slug":"the-overdose-crisis-covid-19-support-peers-through-two-emergencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pacificpublichealth.ca\/whats-new\/the-overdose-crisis-covid-19-support-peers-through-two-emergencies\/","title":{"rendered":"The Overdose Crisis & COVID-19: Support Peers Through Two Emergencies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2020 served as a record-breaking year in lives lost to the overdose crisis.

In 2020 alone, 1716 people died from an illicit drug overdose in BC, a 74% increase over the number of deaths in 2019. To put it in perspective, over 4.7 people died an overdose each day in BC in 2020, two deaths a day higher than in 2019.

The overdose crisis is worsening because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and First Nations people in BC are disproportionately and severely impacted. These two public health emergencies are colliding like nothing we\u2019ve seen before. We must act now.

You can help protect lives and change the course of public health in BC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Donate Now<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Compassion, Inclusion, & Engagement<\/strong> is a partnership program between the BC Centre for Disease Control and the First Nations Health Authority that empowers people with lived and living experience of substance use (peers) to take action and stop overdose in their community. The work that peers do is based in public health, saving lives, and ending the overdose crisis.

This is what our world can look like when we don\u2019t criminalize people who use drugs.
This is what\u2019s possible when we prioritize investment in community supports.
This is what investing in health equity and Indigenous health can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How CIE supports peers and makes an immediate impact<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n