Fontaine, Guillaume and Day, Emma and Luhmann, Niklas and Madden, Annie and Sabin, Keith and Scheibe, Andrew and Stoove, Mark and Vickerman, Peter and Wisse, Ernst and Grebely, Jason and Taylor, Natalie (2026) Addressing policy barriers to scaling up needle and syringe programmes: a global call to action. The Lancet. Global health, 14, (1), e164-e172. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2214-109x(25)00433-4.
External website: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/...
Needle and syringe programmes (NSPs) are effective, affordable solutions for preventing the transmission of blood-borne viruses among people who inject drugs. Yet, global NSP coverage remains extremely low; only 2% of people who inject drugs live in countries with high coverage, and many low-income and middle-income countries do not have NSPs. This Health Policy reports outputs from an international working group who used implementation science approaches to prioritise barriers and co-design solutions to scale up NSPs across three domains: global policy, national policy, and procurement. We present six barriers and 11 strategies that align commodity selection and procurement with the needs and preferences of people who inject drugs, strengthen national commitment and regulatory environments, and improve forecasting and market access for preferred products. We provide sector-specific actions for funders, governments, procurement agencies, implementers, community networks, and researchers. Scaling up NSPs is essential for achieving global infectious disease-elimination goals and improving health outcomes among people who inject drugs.
J Health care, prevention, harm reduction and treatment > Harm reduction > Substance use harm reduction
J Health care, prevention, harm reduction and treatment > Substance use prevention
J Health care, prevention, harm reduction and treatment > Prevention programme or service
J Health care, prevention, harm reduction and treatment > Health related issues > Health information and education > Communicable / infectious disease control > Needle syringe distribution and exchange
MP-MR Policy, planning, economics, work and social services > Policy > Policy on substance use
MP-MR Policy, planning, economics, work and social services > Financial management > Funding
T Demographic characteristics > Person who injects drugs (Intravenous / injecting)
VA Geographic area > International
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