Elizabeth Saenz
E. Sáenz, G. Gerra, G. Campello, A. Busse, W. Kashino, J. Gumm. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Austria
Background. Drug use disorders (DUDs) are multi-factorial and often follow the course of a relapsing and remitting chronic disease. Socio-economic conditions play a fundamental role in drug use and DUDs, with poverty and limited education increasing the risk of DUDs and worsening their consequences. Strengthening prevention and treatment for people with DUDs is a demand reduction strategy of significant public health importance and a cornerstone of the 2016 United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS) outcome document and has been set as Target 3.5 of Goal 3, under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals. The aim of this initiative is to better understand and communicate the role of social inequalities in health, especially with regard to drug use and access to effective treatment in low- and middle-income countries, and to tailor and guide strategies to address DUDs amongst the socioeconomically disadvantaged.
Methods. The UNODC Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Section is embarking on developing a paper on socioeconomic inequalities and DUDs based on input provided by the UNODC Informal Scientific Network. Results and Conclusions. Scientific evidence shows that social inequalities of health are linked to DUDs. Socioeconomic inequalities play a fundamental role in the behavioural and mental development. This is why the World Health Organization Commissioner on Social Determinants of Health recommended that all policies should be evaluated in terms of their impact on social inequalities and health. Studies show that children growing up in low-income families typically complete less schooling, report worse health, and work and earn less in adulthood compared with their higher-income counterparts. Numerous studies also highlight that a lower socioeconomic status tends to go hand in hand with a higher prevalence in drug use, whereas young people from high socioeconomic status dispose of greater sociocultural resources to master and regulate their consumption pattern.