Psychoactive Substances and Public Health in the Americas: Early Detection and Response to Substance Use
Join us on Thursday, December 11, at 12:00 p.m. (Washington, D.C. time or EST) for the event "Psychoactive Substances and Public Health in the Americas: Early Detection and Response to Substance Use". The event aims to present the most recent epidemiological evidence on the disease burden attributable to psychoactive substance use in the Americas and to strengthen the capacities of countries in the Region to address this issue at the primary care level through the implementation of validated tools such as ASSIST and AUDIT.
How to Participate?
Date: December 11, 2025
Time: 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. (Washington, D.C.)
Languages: Spanish, English, and Portuguese (with simultaneous interpretation)
Register here: https://paho-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2uW0y5FbTbmlBFzAbfpdlg
Languages: Spanish, English, and Portuguese (with simultaneous interpretation)
Register here: https://paho-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2uW0y5FbTbmlBFzAbfpdlg
Agenda
Moderator
Leonardo García (International Consultant on Alcohol and Psychoactive Substances, PAHO)
Opening and Welcome
Renato Oliveira (Head, Mental Health, Alcohol and Psychoactive Substances Unit, PAHO)
Conference
Psychoactive Substance Use and Public Health in the Americas
Raúl Martín del Campo (Advisor on Alcohol and Psychoactive Substances, PAHO)
Psychoactive Substance Use and Public Health in the Americas
Raúl Martín del Campo (Advisor on Alcohol and Psychoactive Substances, PAHO)
Conference
The Evidence Behind AUDIT and ASSIST as Public Health Tools
Thomas Babor (Professor, Public Health Sciences)
The Evidence Behind AUDIT and ASSIST as Public Health Tools
Thomas Babor (Professor, Public Health Sciences)
Panel and Discussion
Advances and Good Practices in Addressing Substance Use in Primary Health Care
Moderator: Raúl Martín del Campo
Miguel Ángel Hinojosa (Ministry of Health of Peru)
Advances and Good Practices in Addressing Substance Use in Primary Health Care
Moderator: Raúl Martín del Campo
Miguel Ángel Hinojosa (Ministry of Health of Peru)
Nubia Bautista and Silvia Galvis (Ministry of Health of Colombia)
Presentation
Update on the AUDIT and ASSIST Courses on the VCPH
Marcela Tiburcio (National Institute of Psychiatry Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz)
Update on the AUDIT and ASSIST Courses on the VCPH
Marcela Tiburcio (National Institute of Psychiatry Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz)
Conclusions and Closing Remarks
Raúl Martín del Campo (Advisor on Alcohol and Psychoactive Substances, PAHO)
Raúl Martín del Campo (Advisor on Alcohol and Psychoactive Substances, PAHO)
Context
The use of alcohol and other psychoactive substances represents a growing threat to global and regional public health. According to the World Health Organization (2024) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2025), more than 400 million people worldwide live with a substance use disorder, and 316 million used a psychoactive substance in the last year. In the Region of the Americas, mental and substance use disorders account for approximately 16% of healthy years of life lost, with a 179% increase in related deaths between 2000 and 2019 (World Health Organization, 2024; United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2025; Pan American Health Organization, 2025).
The impact of substance use is particularly visible among youth and adult men, and social inequalities further exacerbate its burden. Alcohol causes more than 2.6 million deaths annually worldwide, while deaths due to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl exceed 48,000 per year in the United States alone, with similar trends observed in Canada and Mexico. In the Region, the expansion of cocaine and methamphetamine markets reinforces the urgency of strengthening early detection and brief interventions within primary health care.
In line with WHO’s call to transform mental health through the integration of community-based services and primary care, addressing substance use must be understood as an essential component of comprehensive mental and physical health care. This integration helps reduce stigma, prevent disability, and ensure person-centered and rights-based care (WHO, 2022).
In this context, tools such as AUDIT and ASSIST developed by WHO and implemented in multiple countries across the Region have become cost-effective strategies for reducing harm and closing the treatment gap, which still exceeds 90% among people with substance use disorders (World Health Organization, 2024; Pan American Health Organization, 2025).
This webinar seeks to bring together the most recent epidemiological evidence on the impact of psychoactive substance use, while strengthening the technical capacities of countries in the Region of the Americas for early detection, systematic screening, and brief intervention, promoting evidence-informed responses centered on primary health care.
Time in other cities
- 9:00 a.m. – Los Angeles, Vancouver.
- 11:00 a.m. - Belmopan, Guatemala City, Managua, Mexico City, San Salvador, San José (CR), Tegucigalpa.
- 12:00 p.m. - Bogotá, Havana, Kingston, Lima, Port-au-Prince, Nassau, Ottawa, Panama City, Quito, Washington D.C.
- 1:00 p.m. – Bridgetown, Caracas, Castries, Georgetown, La Paz, Port of Spain, San Juan, Santo Domingo, Saint George´s Saint John´s.
- 2:00 p.m. - Asunción, Buenos Aires, Brasilia, Montevideo, Paramaribo, Santiago.
- 6:00 p.m. – Geneva, Madrid.
For other cities, please refer to the local time at this link.