ArticleHarm reduction journal2023
Remote harm reduction services are key solutions to reduce the impact of COVID-19-like crises on people who use drugs: evidence from two independent structures in France and in the USA.
Article in Harm reduction journal, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Assessing coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic impacts on the health of people who inject drugs using a novel data sharing model.AIDS (London, England) · 2025Pooled it
- "New Normal:" Opportunities and Challenges Faced by Syringe Service Programs Following the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic.Substance use & misuse · 2025Article
- Perceptions of overdose response hotlines and applications among rural and remote individuals who use drugs in Canada: a qualitative study.Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice · 2024Article
- Comparing harm reduction and overdose response services between community-based and public health department syringe service programmes using a national cross-sectional survey.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2024Article
- Implementing harm reduction kits in an office-based addiction treatment program.Harm reduction journal · 2023Article
- Client experiences using a new supervised consumption service in Sudbury, Ontario: A qualitative study.PloS one · 2023Article
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6 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundHarm Reduction (HR) policies for People Who Use Drugs (PWUD) have a significant positive impact on their health. Such approaches limit the spread of infections and reduce opioid overdose mortality. These policies have led to the opening of specialized structures located mainly in big cities and urbanized zones. The COVID-19 pandemic reduced access to HR structures in locations undergoing lockdown. Before the pandemic, HR services in France and in the USA were complemented by the development of remote HR programs: HaRePo (Harm Reduction by Post) for France, implemented in 2011, and NEXT Distro for the USA founded in 2017. These programs are free and specifically designed for people who have difficulties accessing HR tools and counseling in-person. PWUD can access HaRePo program by phone and/or email. NEXT Distro users can access the program through its dedicated website. The aim of the study is to test if and possibly how COVID-19 pandemic and the associated lockdowns have impacted the HR services in both countries.
methodsBy using t-test comparing the year 2019 with the year 2020, we analyzed how lockdowns impacted the number of new users entering the programs, as well as the numbers of parcels sent and naloxone distributed, by using records of both structures.
resultsWe showed that the activity of both programs was significantly impacted by the pandemic. Both show an increase in the number of new users joining the programs (+ 77.6% for HaRePo and + 247.7% for NEXT Distro) as well as for the number of parcels sent per month (+ 42.7% for HaRePo and + 211.3% for NEXT Distro). It shows that remote HR was able to partially compensate for the reduced HR activities due to COVID-19. We also observed that the distribution of naloxone per parcel tends to increase for both structures.
conclusionWith the ability to reach PWUD remotely, HaRePo and NEXT Distro were particularly effective at maintaining service continuity and scaling up services to meet the needs of PWUD during the COVID-19 pandemic. By studying two independent structures in France and in the USA sharing similar objectives (remote HR), we showed that this approach can be a key solution to crises that impact classical HR structures despite various differences in operating procedures between countries.
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