Vital Strategies Launches 12-Week Radio Campaign to Promote Naloxone and Other Harm Reduction Strategies
(Louisville, KY)—Top radio personalities in Kentucky are taking to the airwaves in a campaign to stem the rising tide of overdose deaths in Louisville’s Black communities. Starting on August 5 and running for 12 weeks, radio hosts are urging audiences to carry overdose-reversing naloxone and learn about fentanyl testing strips, raising awareness about the presence of fentanyl in illicit drugs, and rejecting stigma as crucial measures to help save lives.
The Louisville-based radio personalities participating in the campaign include 96.5 WGZB host Bella Rae and 101.3 host Chea K Magic. The media campaign will air on the two local radio stations.
In 2023, overall rates of fatal overdose decreased in Louisville but continued to rise among Black people. Vital Strategies is teaming up with influential radio personalities and their radio stations in Louisville to empower Black communities to take action.
“Stigma creates a culture of silence about drug use and overdose in the Black community. This Louisville radio campaign shines a light on this topic and the racial inequities that prevent Black people from accessing lifesaving harm reduction tools like naloxone and fentanyl test strips,” said Gloria Malone, Digital Strategist and Senior Manager for the Overdose Prevention Program at Vital Strategies. “Local radio hosts have always spoken up about issues in their communities, and we’re proud to partner with them to get the word out about how the overdose crisis disproportionately impacts the Black community and how that no longer needs to be the case.”
The campaign will highlight that in the United States and across Kentucky, overdose deaths are rising most rapidly in the Black community. Listeners will be urged to visit Kentucky’s (web-based) naloxone access portal Find Naloxone Now KY, to learn about overdose prevention and response and where to get naloxone free of charge. Naloxone, also known by the brand-name Narcan, is a safe and easy-to-use medication that rapidly reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, including respiratory depression. Naloxone is proven to save lives and drastically reduce incidents of fatal overdose. Fentanyl and xylazine test strips provide crucial information about the contents of a drug sample and allow people to make informed decisions about the drugs they consume and strategies they can use to keep themselves and their communities safer.
The radio campaign is partnering with VOCAL-KY and Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition who do lifesaving overdose prevention work in the Black community.
“Our community is being devastated by overdose. The rate for fatal overdoses for Black people is higher than any other racial group in Kentucky,” said Shameka Parrish-Wright, executive director for VOCAL-KY. “Working with local and trusted radio hosts can help bring overdose awareness and prevention to Black communities and ultimately save lives.”
In addition to providing resources on where and how people can access harm reduction supplies, the radio ads are building support for harm reduction, a public health approach to drug use that places the health and dignity of people who use drugs as the first priority of any response. Harm reduction strategies range from providing people with items such as naloxone and sterile syringes, to health care and supportive services like medications for opioid use disorder, an evidence-based treatment for substance use disorder.
“It is not enough to say we are making progress when the numbers continue to climb year after year in the Black community. Despite our best efforts, we continue to see the disheartening overdose crisis in our community, said Shreeta Waldon, executive director of the Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition. “Partnering with trusted radio host to amplify overdose awareness and prevention, is a bold and revolutionary approach I can stand behind and know will result in us turning the tide and saving lives.”
“For the second year in a row, Kentucky has seen an overall decrease in overdose deaths. In 2023, overdose deaths fell statewide by nearly 10%, following a slight drop the previous year. However, this progress is not being felt by all as we have another year of increased overdose deaths among Kentucky’s Black residents. Overdose prevention strategies are not reaching everyone in need,” said Dave Lucas, Technical Advisor for the Overdose Prevention Program at Vital Strategies. “This radio campaign will encourage listeners who use drugs, and even those who don’t, to seek naloxone and other harm reduction resources and inspire important conversations between loved ones, neighbors, and communities about overdose and how to improve health and save lives.”
The Louisville naloxone radio campaign is supported by funding from the Kentucky Opioid Response Effort (KORE).
The Louisville radio campaign builds on a similar effort implemented last summer in Milwaukee and this past summer in Philadelphia. Vital Strategies collaborated with local radio stations in Milwaukee and Philadelphia to launch radio campaigns that aimed to educate local listeners about how the overdose crisis is disproportionately impacting Black communities and provide information about how people can access naloxone. The campaigns generated positive media attention and increased overdose and naloxone awareness in the Black community.
About Vital Strategies
Vital Strategies is a global health organization that believes every person should be protected by a strong public health system. Our overdose prevention program works to strengthen and scale evidence-based, data-driven policies and interventions to create equitable and sustainable reductions in overdose deaths. Work across seven U.S. states is supported by funding from the Bloomberg Philanthropies Overdose Prevention Initiative, launched in 2018, and by targeted investments from other partners.
Learn more at https://www.vitalstrategies.org/programs/overdose-prevention/