The National Association of County and City Health Officials is pleased to announce the release of a new resource: Understanding the Needs of Rural Communities: Principles and Practices for Overdose Prevention and Response. Developed collaboratively with CDC and JBS International, this report identifies rural overdose and drug use trends, guiding principles, and evidence-based and promising practices that are essential for successful and effective overdose prevention and response in rural settings. The report is informed by an environmental scan and gap analysis, expert roundtables, attendance at rural convenings, and series of community interviews.

Between April 2022 and May 2023, the number of people who died from an overdose exceeded 110,000. While the overall overdose rate is slightly higher in urban areas than rural areas, rural communities face their own unique challenges, such as higher rates of female overdose, higher rates of overdose attributed to psychostimulant substances such as methamphetamine, and poor access to substance use treatment and other services. Additionally, racial health disparities in the overall population are often exacerbated in rural settings. Despite these challenges, smaller, often rural health departments have been more likely to see staffing or funding reductions for their overdose prevention and response work than their medium and large sized peer organizations.

NACCHO is grateful for the opportunity to continue our work supporting rural health departments in their overdose prevention and response efforts. The Overdose, Injury, and Violence Prevention team is currently developing a rural implementation blueprint that will map out detailed implementation guidance including cost analysis for rural interventions, programs, policies, and partnerships. It will include details such as the types/number of staff, organizational structure, and funding mechanisms that support the successful implementation of overdose prevention strategies in rural areas. NACCHO aims to release this implementation blueprint in July 2025.

NACCHO invites rural local health departments interested in contributing to the blueprint to complete our Overdose Prevention Recruitment Tool for Rural Local Health Departments.