ArticleThe Medical journal of Australia2025
The costs and benefits of a prison needle and syringe program in Australia, 2025-30: a modelling study.
Article in The Medical journal of Australia, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Best practice guidelines for viral hepatitis service delivery in prisons.The Lancet. Infectious diseases · 2026Pooled it
- Drug use among people in prison: A global review of epidemiology, harms and interventions.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Pooled it
- Gatekeeping harm reduction in Canadian Federal Prisons: Perspectives on the threat risk assessment for the prison needle exchange program by prison administrative leadership.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
- Hospital-Admitted Injection-Related Infections Among Incarcerated People Who Inject Drugs in Australia: A Retrospective Cohort Study.The Medical journal of Australia · 2026Observational
- Trends in hepatitis C care in Canada's provincial and territorial prisons from 2020 to 2024.Canadian liver journal · 2025Article
- The 14th Canadian Symposium on Hepatitis C Virus: From research breakthroughs to equitable health care for priority populations.Canadian liver journal · 2025Article
- Cost-benefit analysis of Canada's Prison Needle Exchange Program for the prevention of hepatitis C and injection-related infections.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesTo estimate and compare the costs and benefits of introducing a prison needle and syringe program in all Australian prisons. STUDY
designStochastic compartmental modelling study.
settingAll Australian prisons, 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2030.
interventionIntroduction of a prison needle and syringe program in all Australian prisons during 1 January 2025 - 1 January 2027, with the aim of covering 50% of people who inject drugs in prison by 1 January 2030.
main outcome measuresProjected new hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections and hospitalisations with injection-related bacterial and fungal infections in prisons, with and without the needle and syringe program; costs of the program; savings in treatment costs for HCV and injection-related bacterial and fungal infections; benefit-cost ratio of the program.
resultsIn the base scenario (no prison needle and syringe program), the projected number of new HCV infections during 2025-2030 was 2932 (uncertainty interval [UI], 2394-3507) and the projected number of hospitalisations with injection-related bacterial and fungal infections was 3110 (UI, 2596-3654). With the prison needle and syringe program, it was projected that 894 (UI 880-912) new HCV infections (30%; UI, 26-37%) and 522 (UI, 509-532) hospitalisations with injection-related bacterial and fungal infections (17%; UI, 15-20%) would be averted; the incidence of new HCV infections would be reduced from 3.1 (UI, 2.5-3.7) to 1.3 (UI, 1.0-1.7) per 100 person-years among people who inject drugs in prison. The estimated cost of the program was $12.2 million (UI, $7.6-22.2 million), and the saved care costs for HCV and injection-related infections were $31.7 million (UI, $29.3-34.6 million), yielding a benefit-cost ratio of 2.6 (UI, 1.4-4.1). The benefit-cost ratio was also greater than one for scenarios in which the assumptions and base values for several parameters were varied.
conclusionsEach dollar spent on a needle and syringe program in Australian prisons could save $2.60 in treatment costs for HCV and other injection-related infections.
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