objectives: our objective was to design an rct in order to assess the effects of adding a brief skill-based psychoeducation (pe) to routine needle and syringe programs to reduce injection and high risk sexual behaviors associated with human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) infection among referrals of drop-in centers (dics). method/design: this was a randomized control trial with the primary hypoth...

Outcome Number of studies Odds ratio Confidence interval (95% confidence level) Reduction in Needle Sharing 6 3.22 2.17-4.77 Needle and Syringe Programs (NSPs) are interventions that provide drug preparation and injection equipment to injection drug users to decrease equipment sharing, and consequently, HIV transmission risk. Drug equipment may include needles, syringes, and other ancillary mat...

BACKGROUND The United States (U.S.) approved use of federal funds for needle and syringe programs (NSPs) in December 2009. This study compares syringe disposal practices in a U.S. city with NSPs to a U.S. city without NSPs by examining the prevalence of improperly discarded syringes in public places and the self-reported syringe disposal practices of injection drug users (IDUs) in the two citie...

conclusions we found a large impact due to nsps for reducing the occurance of hiv among active drug injectors who have been provided sufficient needles and syringes. the coverage of nsps needs to be increased to observe such significant impact. results given the output of the model, we found that among the pwid with sufficient coverage of nsps the hiv rate is 1.02%, while those with insufficien...

Reaching hard-to-reach and high-risk injecting drug users (IDUs) is one of the most important challenges for contemporary needle syringe programs (NSPs). The aim of this review is to examine, based upon the available international experience, the effectiveness of syringe vending machines and mobile van/bus based NSPs in making services more accessible to these hard-to-reach and high-risk groups...

BACKGROUND Needle-syringe exchange programs (NSPs) have been substantially rolled-out in China since 2002. Limited studies reported effectiveness of NSPs in a Chinese setting. This study aimed to assess the association between accessibility to NSPs and drug-use risk behaviors of IDUs by investigating primary (self-reported) data of IDUs recruited from NSP sites, community settings and mandatory...

This study explores the acceptability, the barriers to the implementation of needle and syringe exchange programs (NSPs) and the potential improvement strategies in China from the perspectives of governmental health and public security officials. Purposive sampling was used for recruitment of participants who had been involved in NSPs implementation. Semi-Structured individual interviews were c...

BACKGROUND Historically, US federal policy has not supported harm reduction interventions, such as safe injection facilities (SIFs) and needle and syringe programs (NSPs), which can reduce the burden associated with injection drug use. Given recent increases in abuse of both legal and illegal opioids, there has been a renewed debate about effective ways to address this problem. The current stud...

BACKGROUND Needle and syringe program (NSP) service delivery models encompass fixed sites, mobile services, vending machines, pharmacies, peer NSPs, street outreach, and inter-organizational agreements to add NSP services to other programs. For programs seeking to implement or improve mobile services, access to a synthesis of the evidence related to mobile services is beneficial, but lacking. ...

BACKGROUND HIV continues to spread rapidly throughout Vietnam with injection drug use remaining the main risk factor for infection. The extent of pharmacy-based needle and syringe distribution has not previously been measured in Vietnam; this article reports on a pilot study exploring pharmacy-based harm reduction activities in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi. METHODOLOGY Five pharmacies located in ...