A harm reduction practice that provides sterile injecting equipment to people who inject drugs, through fixed sites, outreach and other delivery models. The WHO, UNAIDS and UNODC operational guide describes the programmes as a core harm reduction intervention, highly effective in preventing HIV and hepatitis C transmission, reducing skin and soft tissue infections, and providing an entry point for overdose prevention and broader health support. High-coverage provision of needles and syringes in Europe has been associated with a 76 percent reduction in hepatitis C acquisition. WHO first recommended the programmes for HIV prevention in 2003; the guide is frank that coverage remains inadequate in most countries and that criminalization and stigmatization are persistent barriers, so the practice remains contested policy territory in many places.
Facts
Origin YearThe year WHO first recommended needle and syringe programmes for HIV prevention; the earliest programmes themselves predate the recommendation. Practice ClassPublic health, harm reduction 1 Classification
Practice ClassPreventive or Public Health Practice 1 Connections
Associated With
Opioid agonist therapy and needle and syringe programmes are commonly co-delivered core pillars of harm reduction programming for people who inject drugs, a direct real-world practice-to-practice link.
In Branch
Source Needle and Syringe Programmes for People Who Inject Drugs: Operational Guide
Sources
1. Needle and Syringe Programmes for People Who Inject Drugs: Operational Guide
World Health Organization, 2025Summary, page ix
Needle and syringe programmes (NSPs) are often the first point of contact with marginalized people who inject drugs. As a core intervention for harm reduction, they are highly effective in preventing HIV and HCV transmission, reducing the incidence of skin and soft tissue infections and providing an entry point for prevention of overdoses and broader health support.
Summary, page ix, HCV evidence
In Europe, high-coverage provision of needles and syringes has been associated with a 76% reduction in HCV acquisition.
Section 1, Core interventions, page 3
WHO first recommended NSPs for HIV prevention in 2003, providing the basis for their formal recognition as an essential harm reduction intervention.
Program classification, entity description sentence
A harm reduction practice that provides sterile injecting equipment to people who inject drugs, through fixed sites, outreach and other delivery models.
- In Branch: Public Health, Summary, harm reduction framing
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