Release Date
Geography
Language of Resource
Full Text Available
Open Access / OK to Reproduce
Peer Reviewed
Objective
Racialized health inequities in substance use-related harms might emerge from differential access to syringe service programs (SSPs). To explore this, we examined the association between county-level racialized environments, other factors, and (1) SSP presence, and (2) per capita syringe and (3) naloxone distribution.
Findings/Key points
We found that communities with higher RRS were more likely to have SSPs, and once established, these organizations were subject to structural racist forces that limited access to preventive services and drive health inequities in these communities. It is imperative that we understand and address the community-level dynamics that influence SSP implementation and accessibility so they aren't restricted in providing access to key harm reduction, preventing HIV and HCV outbreaks, and reducing overdose deaths.
Design/methods
2021 US National Survey of SSP data (n=295/412;72 % response rate) was used to identify SSP presence and the sum of syringes and naloxone doses distributed in 2020 by county. Study measures included racial residential segregation (RRS; i.e., divergence and dissimilarity indexes for Black:Non-Hispanic White & Hispanic:Non-Hispanic White) and covariates (i.e., demographic proportions, urban/suburban/rural classifications, 2020 US presidential Republican vote share, and overdose mortality from 2019).
