The Global status report on alcohol and health and treatment of substance use disorders presents a comprehensive overview of alcohol consumption, alcohol-related… Many receptor-mediated events show the phenomenon of desensitization, which means that continued or repeated administration of a drug produces a progressively smaller effect. Among the complex mechanisms involved are conversion of the receptors to a refractory (unresponsive) state in the presence of an agonist, so that activation cannot occur, or the removal of receptors from the cell membrane (down-regulation) after prolonged exposure to an agonist. Desensitization is a reversible process, although it can take hours or days for receptors to recover after down-regulation. The converse process (up-regulation) occurs in some instances when receptor antagonists are administered. These adaptive responses are undoubtedly important when drugs are given over a period of time, and they may account partly for the phenomenon of tolerance (an increase in the dose needed to produce a given effect) that occurs in the therapeutic use of some drugs.
- FRIDAY, Aug. 15, 2025 — Nearly half of U.S. adults should receive earlier treatment for high blood pressure, including lifestyle changes and medications,…
- Because this interaction occurs inside the cell, agonists for this receptor must be able to cross the cell membrane.
- WHO drug information provides an overview of topics of current relevance relating to drug development and regulation.
Seniors With Certain Cardiovascular Diseases Saw Life’s Essential 8 Scores Decline 2013 to 2018
Although mutual help and peer support groups are useful resources for people with substance use disorders, almost half of responding countries reported that they do not offer such support groups for substance use disorders. Access to appropriate medications is shown to have substantial impacts on community health and the related economic indicators. Quality-assured, safe and effective medicines, vaccines and medicaldevices are fundamental to a functioning health system. However, globalized trade can undermine regulation, and in resource-limited settings especially, incidence of substandard or falsified medicines is growing. Working to increase access to essentialpharmaceuticals while limiting the spread of falsified products is at the heart of WHO’s global strategy on medicines.
UN Commission approves WHO recommendations to place psychoactive substances under international control
FRIDAY, Aug. 15, 2025 — Nearly half of U.S. adults should receive earlier treatment for high blood pressure, including lifestyle changes and medications,… WEDNESDAY, Aug. 20, 2025 — For the first time in 30 years, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has issued vaccine recommendations that differ… This second review of the world medicines situation (first published in 1988 as The WorldDrug Situation) presents the available evidence on global production,… The Guideline Development Group (GDG) is drug rehab for pregnant women specialized prenatal treatment composed of members from all WHO regions, serving in their individual capacities rather than as representatives of affiliated organizations. GDG members were selected by WHO technical staff based on their technical expertise, their role as end-users (e.g., programme managers and healthcare providers), and their representation of affected communities.
Published issues
- Public expenditure ranges widely between nations, from under 20% of totalhealthcare costs in high-income countries to up to 66% in low-income countries.
- Most of the 145 countries that reported data did not have a specific budget line or data on governmental expenditures for treatment of substance use disorders.
- In the first type of mechanism, the ion channel is part of the same protein complex as the receptor, and no biochemical intermediates are involved.
- Steroids generally act much more slowly (hours to days) than agents that act by either of the two other mechanisms.
- The price of medicine remains the largest impediment toaccess and the economic impact of pharmaceuticals is substantial.
In 2019, 38% of current drinkers had engaged in heavy episodic drinking, defined as consuming at least 60g of pure alcohol on one or more occasions in the preceding month – roughly equivalent to 4 or 5 glasses of wine, bottles of beer or servings of spirits. Total alcohol per capita consumption in the world population decreased slightly from 5.7 litres in 2010 to 5.5 litres in 2019. The highest levels of per capita consumption in 2019 were observed in the WHO European Region (9.2 litres) and the Region of Americas (7.5 litres). The roadmap for WHO action 2025–2030 outlines to Member States, and other stakeholders WHO’s unique role and approach for increasing access…
Receptors for steroid hormones (e.g., hydrocortisones and estrogens) differ in being located in the cell nucleus and therefore being accessible only to molecules that can enter the cell across the membrane. The structure-activity relationship describes the connection between chemical structure and biological effect. Such a relationship explains the efficacies of various drugs and has led to the development of newer drugs with specific mechanisms of action.
The World Medicines Situation 2011- Access to controlled medicines, 3rd edition
In the choice of treatment, WHO recommends OAMT to be used for most patients as the intervention with strongest evidence of effectiveness for variety of outcomes. These include reduction in non-medical opioid use, mortality and morbidity (including due to opioid overdose, HIV and viral hepatitis), lowering risk of crime and incarceration, better retention in treatment, quality of life and overall wellbeing. In the guidelines on community management of opioid overdose, WHO recommends that people who are likely to witness an opioid overdose, including people who use opioids, and their family and friends should be given access to naloxone and training in its use so that they can respond to opioid overdose in an emergency. Target 3.5 of UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 sets out a commitment by governments to strengthen the prevention and treatment of substance abuse. It is crucial that people with opioid dependence and those at risk of opioid overdose have access to prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and care, which are of good quality, affordable, ethical and evidence based.
WHO updates list of drug-resistant bacteria most threatening to human health
Receptor activation briefly opens the transmembrane ion channel, and the resulting flow of ions across the membrane causes a change in the transmembrane potential of the cell that leads to the initiation or inhibition of electrical impulses. Examples include the receptors for acetylcholine and for other fast excitatory or inhibitory transmitter substances in the nervous system, such as glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CRPA) infection moving from critical to high priority in BPPL 2024 mirrors recent reports of decreases in global resistance. Despite this transition, investment in R&D and other prevention and control strategies for CRPA remains important, given its significant burden in some regions. Medium priority pathogens include Group A and B Streptococci (both new to the 2024 list), Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Haemophilus influenzae, which present a high disease burden.
Today there are thousands of drugs on the market able to prevent, treat and lessen the impact of ailments that would have been fatal just a few generations ago. At the same time, antimicrobial resistance is challenging the effectiveness of many commonly used medicines in one of the most concerning threats to global health today. It presents a range of perspectives on how current challenges impact the manufacture, prescribing and access of medicines throughout the world and introduces newly-released guidance documents.
WHO’s Global status report on alcohol and health and treatment of substance use disorders provides a comprehensive update based on 2019 data on the public health impact of alcohol and drug use and situation with alcohol consumption and treatment of substance use disorders worldwide. In the guidelines, WHO recommends the use of a range of treatment options for opioid dependence. These include opioid agonist maintenance treatment (or OAMT) with medicines such as methadone and buprenorphine, pharmacological treatment with opioid antagonists (such as naltrexone) as well as psychosocial support.
The UNGASS marked a shift in the overall drug policy discourse to highlight the public health and human rights dimensions of the world drug problem and to achieve a better balance between supply reduction and public health measures. Drugs produce harmful as well as beneficial effects, and decisions about when and how to use them therapeutically always involve the balancing of benefits and risks. Drugs approved for human use are divided into those available only with a prescription and those that can be bought freely over the counter.
Treatment gap for substance use disorders
Pharmacology, the science of drugs, deals with all aspects of drugs in medicine, including their mechanism of action, physical and chemical properties, metabolism, therapeutics, and toxicity. This article focuses on the principles of drug action and includes an overview of the different types of drugs that are used in the treatment and prevention of human diseases. WHO has been convening the ECDD as a scientific advisory body for over 70 years with the mission to protect populations from harmful substances and to ensure that psychoactive substances are available where needed for medical and scientific purposes. The ECDD conducts scientific reviews at the request of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs and is the only treaty-mandated body to provide health recommendations to the Commission to inform decisions in drug policy. The BPPL 2024 also emphasizes the need for a comprehensive public health approach to addressing AMR, including universal access to quality and affordable measures for prevention, diagnosis and appropriate treatment of infections, as outlined in WHO’s People-centred approach to addressing AMR and core package of AMR interventions. Since then there have been incredible advances in drugs for a wide range of health concerns including disease, mental health and other conditions.