FAIRFAX, VA: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has brought on ICF International for a two-year campaign to raise awareness about opioid abuse.
The contract with the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control is worth $4.8 million.
ICF principal Ronne Ostby will lead a dedicated team of six staffers on the account.
The campaign will attempt to raise awareness about the risks associated with prescription opioid abuse. It will include social media targeting, digital and social advertising, and traditional print and TV PSAs, Ostby said.
"We’re looking at two different target audiences. First, a younger set of folks, 25 to 35, who are using prescription opioids recreationally," she said. "It just makes sense that we would try to reach that age group through social media. The other age group is 45 to 55 year olds. They’re not so much on social media and, right now, that's where we’re seeing the largest prevalence of opioid overdose."
ICF will also create online and mobile training for physicians and promote the CDC’s guidelines for prescribing opioids for chronic pain to healthcare providers.
"We know they're super-busy," Ostby said. "So we’re doing five-minute learning modules so the physician can take his phone out and do the training between patients."
Last October, the CDC awarded a 10-year, $100 million blanket purchase agreement to 16 firms to handle its health communications, including strategy and planning, formative research, media outreach, web development, digital communications, and social media, according to Ostby. The opioid abuse awareness campaign falls under that contract.
