Overdose education and naloxone distribution within syringe service programs — United States, 2019

By Barrot H. Lambdin, PhD; Ricky N. Bluthenthal, PhD; Lynn D. Wenger, MSW; Eliza Wheeler, MPA; Bryan Garner, PhD; Paul Lakosky, PhD; Alex H. Kral, PhD

Summary
What is already known about this topic?

In 2013, 55% of U.S. syringe service programs (SSPs) had implemented overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND).

What is added by this report?

In 2019, among 263 SSPs responding to an online survey, 247 (94%) had implemented OEND. The number of persons who received naloxone per opioid overdose death and the number of naloxone doses distributed per opioid overdose death during the previous year varied by census division.

What are the implications for public health practice?

Maximizing participants engaged in OEND and naloxone doses distributed to SSP participants might help to optimize SSP-based OEND programming. Scaling up SSP-based OEND delivery could be a critical component for areas of the country with high opioid overdose death rates.