ArticleHarm reduction journal2021
Is your syringe services program cost-saving to society? A methodological case study.
Article in Harm reduction journal, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- A comprehensive review of state laws that govern the distribution and possession of drug use equipment in the United States.The International journal on drug policy · 2026Review
- Policing harm reduction: A case study of who counts as human.Crime, media, culture · 2026Article
- Tribally-affiliated syringe services programs in the United States: a brief report.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Estimating the Cost-Saving Threshold of a Rural Syringe Services Program Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.AIDS and behavior · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWhile there is a general acceptance among public health officials and policy-makers that syringe services programs can be effective in reducing HIV transmission among persons who inject drugs, local syringe services programs are often asked to provide economic justifications for their activities. A cost-effectiveness study, estimating the cost of preventing one HIV infection, would be the preferred methods for addressing this economic question, but few local syringe services programs have the needed data, staff and epidemiologic modeling resources needed for a cost-effectiveness study. We present a method for estimating a threshold value for the number of HIV infections prevented above which the program will be cost-saving to society. An intervention is considered "cost-saving" when it leads to a desirable health outcome a lower cost than the alternative.
methodsThe research literature on the effectiveness of syringe services programs in controlling HIV transmission among persons who inject drugs and guidelines for syringe services program that are "functioning very well" were used to estimate the cost-saving threshold at which a syringe services program becomes cost-saving through preventing HIV infections versus lifetime treatment of HIV. Three steps are involved: (1) determining if HIV transmission in the local persons who inject drugs (PWID) population is being controlled, (2) determining if the local syringe services program is functioning very well, and then (3) dividing the annual budget of the syringe services program by the lifetime cost of treating a single HIV infection.
resultsA syringe services program in an area with controlled HIV transmission (with HIV incidence of 1/100 person-years or less), functioning very well (with high syringe coverage, linkages to other services, and monitoring the local drug use situation), and an annual budget of $500,000 would need to prevent only 3 new HIV infections per year to be cost-saving.
conclusionsGiven the high costs of treating HIV infections, syringe services programs that are operating according to very good practices ("functioning very well") and in communities in which HIV transmission is being controlled among persons who inject drugs, will almost certainly be cost-saving to society.
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