ArticleThe International journal on drug policy2021
Harm reduction in the time of COVID-19: Case study of homelessness and drug use in Dublin, Ireland.
Article in The International journal on drug policy, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- COVID-19 in the homeless population: a scoping review and meta-analysis examining differences in prevalence, presentation, vaccine hesitancy and government response in the first year of the pandemic.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Pooled it
- Understanding the Impacts of Novel Coronavirus Outbreaks on People Who Use Drugs: A Systematic Review to Inform Practice and Drug Policy Responses to COVID-19.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Harm reduction approaches for the use of benzodiazepines: a scoping review.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- "We knew it was coming: we didn't act" perspectives from people who use drugs and substance use workforce on the impact of delays in implementation of the supervised injection facility and drug checking interventions.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Innovations at the intersection of homelessness and substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- City-level drug policies in Portugal: the COVID-19 pandemic as an analyzer of harm reduction responsiveness in Porto and Lisbon.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and humoral immune responses to COVID-19 mRNA vaccines among people who use drugs - in the light of tailored mitigating strategies.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Article
- Disparities in all-cause mortality among people experiencing homelessness in Toronto, Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cohort study.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Article
- Why were COVID-19 infections lower than expected amongst people who are homeless in London, UK in 2020? Exploring community perspectives and the multiple pathways of health inequalities in pandemics.SSM. Qualitative research in health · 2022Article
- Consensus recommendations for opioid agonist treatment following the introduction of emergency clinical guidelines in Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic: A national Delphi study.The International journal on drug policy · 2022Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on services for substance use in Denmark: Implications for meeting users' needs and recommendations for the future.Nordisk alkohol- & narkotikatidskrift : NAT · 2022Article
- A Qualitative Study Exploring Access to Mental Health and Substance Use Support among Individuals Experiencing Homelessness during COVID-19.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- A Scoping Review of the Health Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Persons Experiencing Homelessness in North America and Europe.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- How has the COVID-19 epidemic affected the risk behaviors of people who inject drugs in a city with high harm reduction service coverage in Vietnam? A qualitative investigation.Harm reduction journal · 2022Article
- Providing Housing First services for an underserved population during the early wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study.PloS one · 2022Article
- Managed alcohol: one community's innovative response to risk management during COVID-19.Harm reduction journal · 2021Article
- An audit of the cervical screening programme in the National Drug Treatment Centre (NDTC).Irish journal of medical science · 2021Article
- Trends in drug poisoning deaths, by sex, in Ireland: a repeated cross-sectional study from 2004 to 2017.BMJ open · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Dublin appears to have performed very well as compared to various scenarios for COVID-19 mortality amongst homeless and drug using populations. The experience, if borne out by further research, provides important lessons for policy discussions on the pandemic, as well as broader lessons about pragmatic responses to these key client groups irrespective of COVID-19. The overarching lesson seems that when government policy is well coordinated and underpinned by a science-driven and fundamentally pragmatic approach, morbidity and mortality can be reduced. Within this, the importance of strategic clarity and delivery, housing, lowered thresholds to methadone provision, Benzodiazepine (BZD) provision and Naloxone availability were key determinants of policy success. Further, this paper argues that the rapid collapse in policy barriers to these interventions that COVID-19 produced should be secured and protected while further research is conducted.
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