Turning Point relaunches key resource mapping alcohol and other drug-related harms

Today Turning Point, Australia's national addiction treatment, training and research centre, officially relaunched its AODstats website, a key public resource providing the latest information on harms related to alcohol, illicit and pharmaceutical drug use in Victoria.

The site, funded by the Victorian Department of Health, and utilising a number of datasets including coded Ambulance Victoria data, is a key tool for state and local governments and other organisations to search for and access data on alcohol and other drug related harms, and continues Turning Point’s strong history in providing alcohol and drug surveillance data to the community.

The data and maps available on AODstats build on and update information previously provided in the annual Victorian Alcohol Statistics Series and Victorian Drug Statistics Handbooks.

“AODstats is a rich resource used across multiple research projects and groups, allowing harms related to alcohol and other drugs to be quantified and differences in regional and metro areas to be mapped,” says Dr Rowan Ogeil, Deputy Strategic Lead of the National Addiction and Mental Health Surveillance Unit (NAMHSU).

The website was re-developed from the ground up with the new format providing more timely information, and is a convenient statistical and epidemiological resource for policy planners, drug service providers, health professionals and other key stakeholders.

“AODstats provides those in local and state government with a powerful resource that maps alcohol and other drug-related harms over time, allowing them to build evidence-based goals into their yearly plans,” says Associate Professor Debbie Scott, NAMHSU Strategic Lead.

In conjunction with the website, a new monthly AODstats bulletin has also been launched, highlighting key data insights and providing an overview of currently available datasets.

To receive the monthly AODstats bulletin, subscribe to the AODstats mailing list by completing the online form at www.aodstats.org.au/contact.

For more on alcohol and other drug statistics and mapping please click here.