Using pharmacies in a structural intervention to distribute low dead space syringes to reduce HIV and HCV transmission in people who inject drugs

C.U. Oramasionwu, T.L. Johnson, W.A. Zule, J. Carda-Auten and C.E. Golin

American Journal of Public Health, 2015, vol. 105, issue 6, 1066-1071

Abstract: Ongoing injection drug use contributes to the HIV and HCV epidemics in people who inject drugs. In many places, pharmacies are the primary source of sterile syringes for people who inject drugs; thus, pharmacies provide a viable public health service that reduces bloodborne disease transmission. Replacing the supply of high dead space syringes with low dead space syringes could have far-reaching benefits that include further prevention of disease transmission in people who inject drugs and reductions in dosing inaccuracies, medication errors, and medication waste in patients who use syringes. We explored using pharmacies in a structural intervention to increase the uptake of low dead space syringes as part of a comprehensive strategy to reverse these epidemics. © 2015, American Public Health Association Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords: complication; disease transmission; drug abuse; equipment design; hepatitis C; HIV Infections; human; incidence; organization and management; pharmacy; prevalence; prevention and control; statistics and numerical data; substance abuse; syringe; transmission; United States; utilization, Disease Transmission, Infectious; Equipment Design; Hepatitis C; HIV Infections; Humans; Incidence; Needle Sharing; Pharmacies; Prevalence; Substance Abuse, Intravenous; Syringes; United States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2015.302581_2

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2015.302581

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