Overdose deaths rose 44 percent for blacks and 39 percent for Native Americans in 2020 compared to 2019 as the Covid-19 pandemic impacted access to medical care and exacerbated racial inequality, an official report showed on Tuesday.
“Racism, a major cause of health inequalities, continues to pose a serious public health threat that directly affects the well-being of millions of Americans,” said Debra Houry, acting deputy director of the US Centers for the Control and Prevention of Diseases (CDC), in a briefing.
“The disproportionate increase in overdose death rates among Blacks and Native Americans/Alaska Natives may be due in part to health inequalities, such as:
The recent spike in deaths was largely caused by illegally manufactured fentanyl and fentanyl analogues (IMFs), according to the CDC’s report.
Before the pandemic, the overdose death rate for Blacks, Native Americans, and Whites was similar at 27, 26, and 25 per 100,000 people in 2019.
But that changed dramatically in 2020, when the respective numbers stood at 39, 36, and 31 per 100,000 people.
Although the increase among whites was not as large as among blacks and Native Americans, the new rate is still an all-time high.
Key findings include that the overdose death rate among black men aged 65 and older was nearly seven times that of their white counterparts.
Black people aged 15 to 24 experienced the largest rate increase at 86 percent compared to changes in other groups.
“Compared to whites, there was a significantly lower percentage of people from racial and ethnic minority groups who were documented to have ever received treatment for drug use,” CDC public health scientist Mbabazi Kariisa said during the briefing.
In fact, most people who died from an overdose had no evidence that they had received any prior substance-use treatment prior to their death.
Areas with a larger income gap between rich and poor had the highest mortality rates.
Impoverishment “can result in a lack of stable housing, reliable transportation and medical insurance, making it even more difficult for people to access treatment and other support services,” Kariisa said.
Regarding recommendations, Houry said it was important to raise awareness of the lethality of the illicit drug supply, particularly fentanyl, and to encourage the public to take the life-saving drug naloxone with them.
Improving access to treatment and providing structural support such as transport assistance and childcare can improve access to care.
“Combining culturally appropriate traditional practices, spirituality, and religion with evidence-based treatment for substance use disorders also helps raise awareness and reduce stigma,” she said.
“While we’ve made so much progress in treating substance use disorders as chronic illnesses and not as moral failings, there is still so much work to be done, including ensuring all people who need these services can get them,” Houry concluded .
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