Naloxone offers ‘immediate' assistance

In many poor countries, counterfeit medicines are an enormous problem. A quarter-million malaria deaths each year might be prevented if the patients were treated with real drugs instead of fake ones.

The law often traps offenders in a cycle of lawbreaking. LEAD allows for drug users to become committed to a program that helps them through the quitting process instead of throwing them into prison and isolating them from the help they need.

For decades, the only good option for alcoholics seeking recovery was an abstinence-based 12-step program called Alcoholics Anonymous. John David Sinclair, an American neuroscientist, has developed a new method, where an alcoholic takes naltrexone one hour before drinking. The naltrexone blocks the brain's opioid receptors and prevents an alcoholics strong synaptic reward response from occurring, which allows their craving for alcohol to eventually subside.

A novel way to help young men growing up in communities in which concentrated poverty, violence and unemployment are well-documented barriers to health and longevity: male youth of color are trained to be the emergency response team to help stabilize street victims before doctors or nurses begin procedures.

About 40 percent more people in the state are seeking treatment for addiction today than a year ago - but the number of deaths from heroin is going up. Local government is scrambling for both funding and awareness to combat the issue.

The highest hospital costs come from preventable emergency room visits. A doctor in Camden developed a home visit program which gives better and cheaper care.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdoses are the leading cause of injury-related mortality. Naxolone, a drug used to revive overdose victims, is only available by prescription. However, private organizations have distributed Naxolone kits nationally, showing that the drug can save lives when it is more readily accessible.

In Nepal, a controversial drug is proving to be effective in saving mother's lives. It's the only shelf-stable, easy-to-administer solution to curbing postpartum hemorrhage. In trials, misoprostol is shown to save the lives of women who live far from medical care facilities. Since Nepal allowed use of the drug, postpartum hemorrhage has fallen from the leading cause of maternal death to number two.

Adolescent smoking remains a challenging health problem because of the allure of cigarette branding. Australia is piloting the transformation of cigarette packaging with a generic look that reduces the appeal of smoking. In Florida, the Truth campaign has exposed that cigarette companies targeted teenage consumers and, in response, created a set of new advertisements that presented the cigarette industry with transparency.

Naloxone could be the secret to curing New England's heroin consumption. Trying to expand access to the life-saving overdose antidote is the real obstacle.