Assessing Syringe Exchange Program Access among Persons Who Inject Drugs (PWID) in the District of Columbia.

Sean T Allen,Monica S Ruiz,Jeff Jones

doi:10.1007/s11524-015-0018-5

Abstract

Prior research has explored spatial access to syringe exchange programs (SEPs) among persons who inject drugs (PWID), but these studies have been based on limited data from short periods of time. No research has explored changes in spatial access to SEPs among PWID longitudinally. The purpose of this research is to examine spatial access to SEPs among PWID who accessed services at a SEP in Washington, District of Columbia (DC), from 1996 to 2010. The geometric point distance estimation technique was used to calculate the mean walking distance PWID traveled from the centroid point of their zip code of home residence to the mobile exchange site where they accessed SEP services. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to examine differences in walking distance measures by year. The results of this research suggest that the distance DC PWID traveled to access SEP services remained relatively constant (approximately 2.75 mi) from 2003 to 2008, but increased to just over 4 mi in 2010. This research provides support for expanding SEP operations such that PWID have increased access to their services. Increasing SEP accessibility may help resolve unmet needs among injectors.

Highlights

Research has documented the public health utility of syringe exchange programs (SEPs) for persons who inject drugs (PWID)
The purpose of this research is to expand our knowledge of SEP accessibility among the District of Columbia (DC) PWID population by examining the distance PWID traveled to engage with Prevention Works, the city’s first SEP, from its implementation in 1996 to its closing in 2011
The final analytic sample consisted of African-American/Black or Caucasian/White DC PWID who reported being male or female and who reported residing at a geographic zip code

Summary

Introduction

Research has documented the public health utility of syringe exchange programs (SEPs) for persons who inject drugs (PWID). SEPs are cost-effective, decrease the incidence of HIV among injectors, and have not been shown to increase drug use, crime, or presence of discarded syringes in neighborhoods.[1,2,3,4,5] Beyond the provision of sterile injection equipment, PWID may experience other benefits while engaging with SEPs; for example, these programs may provide referrals to other essential health and human services (e.g., substance use treatment programs, basic medical care, etc.) that may help address unmet needs and facilitate substance use cessation.[6, 7] In order for SEPs to be efficacious, their services must be accessible to the PWID population. Existing literature has shown that PWID who reside greater than 1 mi from a SEP are more likely to have injected with a used syringe in the prior 6 months.[8] Research has documented that persons who live within a 10-min

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion