Join us on Thursday, December 11 at 12:00 pm (Washington, DC time or EST) for the event”Psychoactive Substances and Public Health in the Americas: Early Detection and Addressing the Use of Psychoactive Substances“. The event aims to provide the most recent epidemiological evidence on the burden of disease attributable to the use of psychoactive substances in the Americas and strengthen the capacities of the countries of the Region to address it from primary care, through the implementation of validated tools such as ASSIST and AUDIT.
How to participate?
Table of Contents
Date: December 11, 2025
Time: 12:00 p.m. – 13:30 p.m. (EST o Washington DC)
Languages: Spanish, English and Portuguese (with simultaneous interpretation in these languages)
Agenda
Moderator
Leonardo García (International Consultant on the Use of Alcohol and Psychoactive Substances, PAHO)
Opening and Welcome challenges
Renato Oliveira (Head of Mental Health Unit, Alcohol and Psychoactive Substances, PAHO)
Conference
Use of psychoactive substances 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)
Panel and debate
Advances and good practices in addressing substance use at the first level of care.
Moderator: Raúl Martín del Campo
Representatives of the Ministries of Health (names of participants to be confirmed)
Presentation
Update of the AUDIT and ASSIST courses at the CVSP.
Marcela Tiburcio (Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz National Institute of Psychiatry)
Conclusions and closure
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 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 explain about 16% of years of healthy 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 in young people and adult men, and social inequalities expand the burden of disease. Alcohol causes more than 2.6 million deaths each year worldwide, while deaths from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl exceed 48,000 annually in the United States alone, with similar trends in Canada and Mexico. At the regional level, the expansion of cocaine and methamphetamine markets reinforces the urgency of strengthening early detection and brief interventions from primary care.
In line with the WHO call to transform mental health through the integration of community services and primary care, addressing substance use should be considered an essential part of comprehensive mental and physical health care. This integration contributes to reducing stigma, preventing disabilities and ensuring person-centred care based on human rights (WHO, 2022).
In this context, tools such as AUDIT and ASSIST, developed by the WHO and applied in multiple countries in the Region, are consolidated as cost-effective strategies to reduce harm and close the care gap, which still exceeds 90% in people with substance use disorders (World Health Organization, 2024; Pan American Health Organization, 2025).
This webinar seeks to articulate the most recent epidemiological evidence on the impact of the use of psychoactive substances, as well as strengthen the technical capacities of the countries of the Region of the Americas for early detection, systematic screening and brief intervention, promoting evidence-based responses focused on primary care.
Time in other cities
- 9:00 am – Los Angeles, Vancouver.
- 11:00 am – Belmopán, Guatemala City, Managua, Mexico City, San Salvador, San José (CR), Tegucigalpa
- 12:00 pm – Bogotá, Havana, Kingston, Lima, Port-au-Prince, Nassau, Ottawa, Panama City, Quito, Washington DC
- 1:00 pm – Bridgetown, Caracas, Castries, Georgetown, La Paz, Port of Spain, San Juan, Santo Domingo, Saint George’s Saint John’s
- 14:00 – Asunción, Buenos Aires, Brasilia, Montevideo, Paramaribo, Santiago
- 18:00 – Geneva, Madrid.
For other cities, check the local time at this link.
