Live Presentation
Speak with Christopher Bransfield about their practicum on January 31st from 3:45-4:15pm via this .
Video Presentation
View Christopher Bransfield's poster presentation in this video recording:Â
Abstract
Many scholars have declared the concurrent public health emergencies of the overdose crisis, and the pandemic as a syndemic – suggesting that the intersecting social and environmental factors of both are producing greater vulnerabilities and challenges for those existing within this space 1,2. Many of these challenges have been compounded by provincial stay-at-home orders, interrupted access to drug supply, and the many social challenges introduced by the pandemic.
The pandemic has produced negative mental health impacts on a population level, and these impacts are disproportionately experienced by People Who Use Substances (PWUS)3–5. Many PWUS as well as those who have Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) face multiple axes of marginalization in the form of economic, housing, and food insecurities – and as such, our policy responses need to recognize the intersecting identities that PWUS hold, and the structural causes for observed differential health outcomes 2,4,6. In understanding these causes, we must acknowledge the ongoing criminalization of Black and Indigenous people that the war on drugs reproduces. Policies must not exclusively serve to close observed gaps in access to care and in health outcomes but target the racializing institutional processes that continue to systematically exert control over, and further marginalize BIPOC communities.
This project aimed to place community voices at the center of understanding the effects of the pandemic, and how the landscape of social, health, and harm reduction programs has changed throughout the pandemic. In partnership with the Manitoba Harm Reduction Network (MHRN), this project sought to highlight incremental and structural policy recommendations drawn from community knowledge.
| List of References | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Singer M, Bulled N, Ostrach B, Mendenhall E. Syndemics and the biosocial conception of health. The Lancet. 2017;389(10072):941-950. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30003-X |
| 2 | Bonn M, Palayew A, Bartlett S, Brothers TD, Touesnard N, Tyndall M. Addressing the Syndemic of HIV, Hepatitis C, Overdose, and COVID-19 Among People Who Use Drugs: The Potential Roles for Decriminalization and Safe Supply. J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2020;81(5):556-560. doi:10.15288/jsad.2020.81.556 |
| 3 | Hobin E, Smith B. Is another public health crisis brewing beneath the COVID-19 pandemic? Can J Public Health. 2020;111(3):392-396. doi:10.17269/s41997-020-00360-z |
| 4 | Melamed OC, Hauck TS, Buckley L, Selby P, Mulsant BH. COVID-19 and persons with substance use disorders: Inequities and mitigation strategies. Substance Abuse. 2020;41(3):286-291. doi:10.1080/08897077.2020.1784363 |
| 5 | Ornell F, Moura HF, Scherer JN, Pechansky F, Kessler FHP, von Diemen L. The COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on substance use: Implications for prevention and treatment. Psychiatry Res. 2020;289:113096. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113096 |
| 6 | Galea S, Vlahov D. Social determinants and the health of drug users: socioeconomic status, homelessness, and incarceration. Public Health Rep. 2002;117(Suppl 1):S135-S145. |