Highlights
Image

Credit: NIDA / Photographer: Sonya Revell
- Syringe services programs (SSPs) are community-based prevention programs that can provide a range of services, including access to and disposal of sterile syringes and injection equipment, vaccination, testing, and linkage to infectious disease care and substance use treatment. Nearly 30 years of research show these programs are safe, effective, and cost-saving tools that can prevent HIV and high-risk injection behaviors among people who inject drugs.
- Syringe services programs help protect communities by preventing infectious disease outbreaks and facilitating safe disposal of used syringes. These programs are not associated with increased drug use, crime, or syringe litter in communities.
- The most effective syringe services programs provide comprehensive services to people who inject drugs, including the distribution of lifesaving medications and referrals to substance use treatment and other health care.
Latest from NIDA
Strengthening Federal Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Programs: Opportunities, Challenges, and Emerging Issues
Take-home antibiotic therapies may improve health outcomes, lower costs, for patients with drug use-associated infective endocarditis
This World AIDS Day, Finding Inspiration at the Intersection of HIV and Substance Use
Addressing the Socioeconomic Complexities of Addiction—Lessons from the Kensington Neighborhood in Philadelphia
Find More Resources on Syringe Services Programs
- Learn more about Syringe Services Programs from the CDC.
- Learn more about Syringe Services Programs and HIV from HIV.gov.
- Learn more about harm reduction strategies to lessen HIV risks from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.