Global health. The current scenario and future perspectives

206 Table 2: Distribution of deaths attributed to drug use disorders by substance and selected regions, 2019. Region Substance All Opioids Cocaine Amphetamines Others Europe* 20,328 15,753 799 994 2,782 America* 71,204 49,853 10,161 4,737 6,452 North America** 68,246 49,205 8,648 4,583 5.809 Lat. Am. and Caribbean 2,854 560 1,522 152 621 Global 128,082 88,353 12,779 8,964 17,986 * According to the classification of the World Health Organization. ** United States and Canada. Excludes Mexico, which is included in Latin America. Source: Own elaboration based on the Global Burden of Disease Study GBD 2019. Table 2 shows that a significant proportion of deaths attributed to substance use disorders correspond to the America region (55.6%), specifically related to opioid use (69%). In North America, the highest proportion of deaths is explained by opioid use (72%), while in the subregion of Latin America and the Caribbean, it is cocaine use (53%). This reinforces the previously mentioned fact about the diversity regarding drug use and its consequences at global and regional level. It is important to note that these figures are absolute values, not adjusted for corresponding population sizes. As mentioned at the beginning of this document, one of the most widely used substances is alcohol, which is also associated with many pathologies and accounts for a significant proportion of deaths as well as Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs). According to a report from 2018 by the World Health Organization, globally in 2016, 2.3 billion people (aged 15 and older) were alcohol consumers, equivalent to a past-year prevalence of alcohol use of 43%. Three WHO regions had a prevalence rate exceeding 50%, including the Americas region. Among adolescents between 15 and 19 years old, global prevalence was reported at 26.5%, with Europe having higher prevalence rates within this age group at approximately 43.8%, followed by the Americas region with around 38.2%. According to the Pan American Health Organization’s Report from 2021 (PAHO), in 2016, the past-year prevalence of alcohol use among the population aged 15 and older in the Americas region was 56.7% (69.8%