CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — Every year on Aug. 31, advocates work to bring awareness to a disease you often can’t see.

International Overdose Awareness Day is about bringing light to the overdose crisis across the country. In 2024, a person died from overdosing every hour.

And although deaths are down from 2023 — when someone died on average every five minutes — advocates said that there’s still more to be done. A Champaign treatment clinic is trying to do that by eliminating the stigma.

“There’s just so many people out their suffering and if we open up, you know, education and our hearts, we can look at those people just like us. I think it’s going to help a lot,” Laura White, the director of the MedMark Treatment Center, said.

White said that taking a more compassionate approach will aid in others recoveries. She added that International Overdose Awareness Day helps to kickstart to National Recovery Month, which begins Sept. 1.