Harris County Public Health is committed to reducing overdose deaths in the county through the Substance Use Prevention program. The team operates the Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) – LOCAL grant from the CDC. This grant focuses on reducing overdose deaths at a local level and has various strategies to do so, including prevention methods, linkage to care, and peer recovery coaching.

The OD2A program is a surveillance and prevention program designed to tackle the ongoing overdose epidemic in the United States. It is a CDC grant-funded program, which funds select public health departments nationwide, including Harris County Public Health. The program aims to reduce overdoses and substance use disorders in Harris County through various strategies including linkage to care, Naloxone distribution, provider and patient education, and collaboration with partner organizations in the community.

Harris County Public Health (HCPH) analyzed emergency department (ED) visits and death data from 2018-2022 to better understand substance use, addressing under-reporting due to stigma and legal concerns. The substances studied included alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, opioids (fentanyl, heroin), and PCP.

Key findings revealed that substance-involved ED visits increased by 220.9%, from 2,645 in 2018 to over 8,400 in 2022. Substance-involved deaths rose by 72.7%, reaching 1,162 in 2022. (See the table below.) Data sources included CDC WONDER, ESSENCE, the U.S. Census, and the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.

The analysis covered all ages, with a specific focus on youths (≤19) and adults (≥20), and broke down data by age, race, ethnicity, and sex, with rates reported per 100,000 individuals.

Harris County Public Health is working with key partners in the community to fulfill the goals of the OD2A program and reduce overdose deaths. These partners include:

• Houston Health Department 
• Harris County Sheriff’s Office 
• Patient Care Intervention Center
• African American Male Wellness Agency
• Tony's Place
• Harris County Local Independent School Districts
• Houston High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area 
• Accessing Coordinated Care and Empowering Self Sufficiency (ACCESS) Harris County

The University of Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health evaluates OD2A’s prevention and data collection activities for efficacy.