内容摘要：bar in downtown Nashville. In 2021, after video surfaced of him

bar in downtown Nashville. In 2021, after video surfaced of him

Still, annual overdose deaths are higher than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement, the CDC noted that overdoses are still the leading cause of death for people 18-44 years old, “underscoring the need for ongoing efforts to maintain this progress.”Some experts worry that the recent decline could be slowed or stopped by reductions in federal funding and the public health workforce, or a shift away from the strategies that seem to be working.

“Now is not the time to take the foot off the gas pedal,” said Dr. Daniel Ciccarone, a drug policy expert at the University of California, San Francisco.The provisional numbers are estimates of everyone who died of overdoses in the U.S., including noncitizens. That data is still being processed, and the final numbers can sometimes differ a bit. But it’s clear that there was a huge drop last year.Experts note that there have been past moments when U.S. overdose deaths

or even started to go down,. That happened in 2018.

But there are reasons to be optimistic.

has become more widely available, in part because of the introduction of over-the-counter versions that don’t require prescriptions.In 2021, Rodriguez established a partnership between the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar and CNAG, the National Center for Genomic Analysis in Barcelona. Rodriguez collects patients’ blood samples and delivers the extracted DNA to Barcelona, where scientists sequence it, storing the answers it holds in a large database. Almost 1,300 participants—patients and families—have enrolled in his study of rare disease in West Africa.

Rare disease researcher Pedro Rodriguez, left, examines Ibrahima Ndiaye, 8, in Dakar, Senegal, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)Rare disease researcher Pedro Rodriguez, left, examines Ibrahima Ndiaye, 8, in Dakar, Senegal, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)

In the Gambia, Fatou Samba’s sons Adama, 8, and Gibriel, 4, like to play soccer and feed the sheep in their backyard. On a recent afternoon, they took turns playing with a toy airplane and a globe. Adama, who hopes to be a pilot, pointed to where he wanted to go: the U.S. Outside, he started to climb a pile of bicycles propped up against the wall, and Gibriel followed.“We’re climbing Mount Everest,” Adama said.