Racialized environments and syringe services program implementation: County-level factors.

Objective: Racialized health inequities in substance use-related harms might emerge from differential access to syringe service programs (SSPs). To explore this, we examined the association between county-level racialized environments, other factors, and (1) SSP presence, and (2) per capita syringe and (3) naloxone distribution.

Methods: 2021 US National Survey of SSP data (n=295/412;72 % response rate) was used to identify SSP presence and the sum of syringes and naloxone doses distributed in 2020 by county.

Financial barriers, facilitators, and strategies among syringe services programs in the U.S., and their impact on implementation and health outcomes.

Syringe Services Programs (SSPs) provide evidence-based services like drug use equipment to prevent infectious disease, overdose prevention education, and naloxone distribution to people who use drugs (PWUD). However, inadequate funding threatens provision of these interventions. This study aimed to document how the current funding landscape impacted determinants of SSP implementation, particularly describing financial and staffing barriers, facilitators, and proposed strategies, using qualitative methods informed by three implementation research frameworks.

Funding and Delivery of Syringe Services Programs in the United States, 2022.

To describe the current financial health of syringe services programs (SSPs) in the United States and to assess the predictors of SSP budget levels and associations with delivery of public health interventions. We surveyed all known SSPs operating in the United States from February to June 2022 (n = 456), of which 68% responded (n = 311). We used general estimating equations to assess factors influencing SSP budget size and estimated the effects of budget size on multiple measures of SSP services.

How do contextual factors influence naloxone distribution from syringe service programs in the USA: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Naloxone is a medication that can quickly reverse an opioid overdose. Syringe service programs (SSPs) are community-based prevention programs that provide a range of evidence-based interventions in the USA, including naloxone distribution. Attributes of SSPs make them ideal settings for naloxone distribution-they have staff and delivery models that are designed to reach people who use drugs where they are.

Availability of and Obstacles to Providing COVID-19 Vaccinations at Syringe Services Programs in the United States, 2021.

Many syringe services programs (SSPs) have established trusting, long-term relationships with their clients and are well situated to provide COVID-19 vaccinations. We examined characteristics and practices of SSPs in the United States that reported providing COVID-19 vaccinations to their clients and obstacles to vaccinating people who inject drugs (PWID). We surveyed SSPs in September 2021 to examine COVID-19 vaccination practices through a supplement to the 2020 Dave Purchase Memorial survey.

Barriers to engaging people who use drugs in harm reduction services during the COVID-19 pandemic: A mixed methods study of syringe services program perspectives.

Background: Syringe services programs (SSPs) provide critical evidence-based public health services that decrease harms from drug use for people who use drugs (PWUD). Many SSPs have experienced significant and evolving COVID-19-related disruptions. We aimed to characterize the impacts of COVID-19 on SSP operations in the United States approximately one year into the pandemic.

Syringe Service Program Perspectives on Barriers, Readiness, and Programmatic Needs to Support Rollout of the COVID-19 Vaccine.

Background: We explored syringe service program (SSP) perspectives on barriers, readiness, and programmatic needs to support coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine uptake among people who use drugs.

Methods: We conducted an exploratory qualitative study, leveraging an existing sample of SSPs in the United States. Semistructured, in-depth interviews were conducted with SSP staff between February and April 2021.

Responding to a surge in overdose deaths: perspectives from US syringe services programs.

Background: US overdose deaths have reached a record high. Syringe services programs (SSPs) play a critical role in addressing this crisis by providing multiple services to people who use drugs (PWUD) that help prevent overdose death. This study examined the perspectives of leadership and staff from a geographically diverse sample of US SSPs on factors contributing to the overdose surge, their organization's response, and ongoing barriers to preventing overdose death.

Buprenorphine implementation at syringe service programs following waiver of the Ryan Haight Act in the United States.

Introduction: Among people with an opioid use disorder in the United States, only 10% receive buprenorphine treatment. The Ryan Haight Act is a federal law that has regulated buprenorphine delivery, requiring an in-person examination between a patient and provider before initiating treatment. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, federal agencies waived in-person examination requirements for buprenorphine treatment initiation.

Harm reduction and health services provided by syringe services programs in 2019 and subsequent impact of COVID-19 on services in 2020.

Objectives: This study describes harm reduction and health services provided by U.S syringe services programs (SSPs) in 2019 and changes in provision of those services in 2020.

Methods: SSPs were invited to participate in the Dave Purchase Memorial survey in August 2020.

Program Adaptations to Provide Harm Reduction Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study of Syringe Services Programs in the U.S.

Syringe services programs (SSPs) are essential to preventing injection drug use-related infections and overdose death among people who use drugs (PWUD). The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic initially impeded SSPs' operations. To effectively support these programs, information is needed regarding SSPs' experiences adapting their services and the challenges posed by COVID-19.

Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution Within Syringe Service Programs - United States, 2019.

Syringe service programs (SSPs), which provide access to sterile syringes and other injection equipment and their safe disposal after use,* represent a highly successful human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention intervention. SSPs are associated with a 58% reduction in the incidence of HIV infection among persons who inject drugs (1). In addition, SSPs have led efforts to prevent opioid overdose deaths by integrating evidence-based opioid overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND) programs (2-4).

Expansion of Syringe Service Programs in the United States, 2015-2018.

To report on the expansion of syringe service programs (SSPs) in the United States from 2015 to 2018. We obtained data from records of the Buyers' Club of the Dave Purchase Project/North American Syringe Exchange Network (NASEN), including the number of US SSPs and the numbers of sterile syringes purchased by programs. We conducted a subset analysis of states with high numbers of counties defined as "vulnerable" by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.