Needle and Syringe Programmes (NSPs) are essential harm reduction services that support people who inject drugs. They provide sterile injecting equipment and promote safer practices to reduce health risks for individuals and the wider community.
What Do NSPs Provide?
NSPs typically supply:
- Sterile needles and syringes
- Additional injecting equipment (e.g. filters, mixing containers, sterile water)
Most NSPs are delivered through:
- Pharmacies
- Drug services
- Fixed sites, mobile units, or outreach teams
Harm Reduction and Health Promotion
Beyond equipment provision, NSPs often offer:
- Advice on safer injecting techniques
- Guidance on reducing drug-related harm, including for performance and image-enhancing drugs
- Overdose prevention and management strategies
- Information on safe disposal of injecting equipment
- Access to:
- Blood-borne virus testing, vaccination, and treatment
- Drug treatment services (e.g. opioid substitution therapy)
- Support to stop injecting or transition to safer drug use practices
- Broader health and welfare services, including condom distribution
Who Benefits?
- Societal benefit: Improved public health outcomes and reduced healthcare burdenduce the prevalence of blood-borne viruses and bacterial infections, so benefiting wider society.
- Primary beneficiaries: People who inject drugs
- Wider impact: Reduced transmission of blood-borne viruses (e.g. HIV, hepatitis B and C) and bacterial infections
