Provision of injecting paraphenalia to reduce injecting risk behaviour | www.emcdda.europa.eu

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Summary of the evidence

Rating

Likely to be beneficial

A review of reviews (MacArthur et al., 2014, N=25 reviews), without meta-analysis, concluded that there is:

tentative evidence to support the effectiveness of the provision of sterile injecting paraphernalia in reducing injecting risk behaviour (N=15 studies, 10 positive, 5 no association).

Details

Note: this evidence summary is only valid for the outcomes, target groups, settings and substances/patterns of use described below.

Name of response option

Harm reduction paraphenalia

Desired outcome(s)

reduce risk behaviours

Area(s)

Harm reduction

Specific substance or pattern of use

amphetamines
opioids

Target group(s) or setting(s)

PWID – people who inject drugs

References

MacArthur, G. J., et al (2014),Interventions to prevent HIV and Hepatitis C in people who inject drugs: A review of reviews to assess evidence of effectiveness. International Journal of Drug Policy (2014)

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