Opioid Overdoses and Narcan in the U.S.
A media campaign aimed at college students about Narcan and the role it can play in saving lives from opioid overdoses.
Artist
Jay Garg (2022)
Caption
My project consists of a series of Instagram posts, infographics, and posters about Narcan and the role it can play in reversing an opioid overdose and saving a life. The opioid epidemic has hugely impacted my personal life, so I came into college with some knowledge about opioids, their prevalence in the United States, and how to respond to an overdose. At Harvard, however, I noticed that many people are unaware of the extent to which opioid overdose is an ongoing threat to public health. More importantly, many of my fellow students are unaware of how easy it is to take simple steps—like carrying naloxone and knowing how to use it—that can ultimately prevent an overdose from taking a life.
Artist Lens
To that end, all components of my project are aimed for use at Harvard or similar college campuses. They are intended to motivate college students to carry naloxone with them so that they can use it if they are ever in a position where someone near them is experiencing an overdose. The Instagram posts are designed to be accessible and to convey the ease and importance of carrying Narcan. I chose to make Instagram posts because Instagram has become a significant source of information for many college students and because, via my own connections and those of others, it carries enormous potential to reach huge swathes of campus at once. The images are uncluttered and bright to catch people's eyes as they scroll. The words are intentionally non-technical ("Narcan" instead of "naloxone," "prevents opioids from binding to receptors" instead of "opioid antagonist") to try and minimize the number of people who will miss the message of the posts.
Furthermore, I created an infographic and a poster, both of which provide instructions or tips for administering naloxone and could be put up around campus. These will serve two purposes: (1) to raise awareness about naloxone for college students, hopefully making them want to learn more, and (2) to provide education on how to use naloxone for people who may not know. I think a necessary part of a campaign to get people to carry naloxone is a set of resources for learning how to use it. Finally, along those lines, I created a poster to get people to come to a free training event to learn how to use naloxone. Though the time has not actually been determined, this mockup will likely actually be used for an event that a club I run, Harvard College Overdose Prevention and Education Students (HCOPES), will host in the fall to give people free naloxone to take with them and provide training from the Cambridge Department of Public Health and Fenway Health on how to use it. As before, the same choices were made with respect to the brightness and simplicity of the materials to make them eye-catching and accessible.
Media
Digital