A new study shows the effectiveness of syringe services programs in both curbing HIV transmission among people who use drugs and preventing future outbreaks.

In a rural American setting that had previously experienced one of the largest HIV outbreaks among people who use drugs, a simulation suggested that closing the existing syringe services programs would likely lead to a rebound HIV outbreak, with an almost 60% increase in infections among people who use drugs in five years.

Even closing the program temporarily would lead to an increase in cases of HIV, the study showed.

«Our work shows that shutting down syringe services programs has immediate and detrimental impacts on people who use drugs and the broader community,» said senior author Brandon Marshall, an associate professor of epidemiology at Brown University. «We should be expanding access and increasing sustainable funding to these programs to prevent future outbreaks.»

The analysis, published in the journal AIDS, presents the first study to the researchers’ knowledge to quantitatively examine the impact of syringe services program closure on HIV incidence.

Syringe services programs are community-based prevention programs that provide services such as referrals to substance use disorder treatment, access to and disposal of sterile syringes and injection equipment, and vaccination, testing and connections to care for infectious diseases. They’re effective in curbing the transmission of HIV — as long as they remain in operation, the researchers said.

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