1
|
Wiessing L, Ferri M, Běláčková V, Carrieri P, Friedman SR, Folch C, Dolan K, Galvin B, Vickerman P, Lazarus JV, Mravčík V, Kretzschmar M, Sypsa V, Sarasa-Renedo A, Uusküla A, Paraskevis D, Mendão L, Rossi D, van Gelder N, Mitcheson L, Paoli L, Gomez CD, Milhet M, Dascalu N, Knight J, Hay G, Kalamara E, Simon R, Comiskey C, Rossi C, Griffiths P. Monitoring quality and coverage of harm reduction services for people who use drugs: a consensus study. Harm Reduct J 2017; 14:19. [PMID: 28431584 PMCID: PMC5401609 DOI: 10.1186/s12954-017-0141-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2016] [Accepted: 03/04/2017] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Despite advances in our knowledge of effective services for people who use drugs over the last decades globally, coverage remains poor in most countries, while quality is often unknown. This paper aims to discuss the historical development of successful epidemiological indicators and to present a framework for extending them with additional indicators of coverage and quality of harm reduction services, for monitoring and evaluation at international, national or subnational levels. The ultimate aim is to improve these services in order to reduce health and social problems among people who use drugs, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, crime and legal problems, overdose (death) and other morbidity and mortality. METHODS AND RESULTS The framework was developed collaboratively using consensus methods involving nominal group meetings, review of existing quality standards, repeated email commenting rounds and qualitative analysis of opinions/experiences from a broad range of professionals/experts, including members of civil society and organisations representing people who use drugs. Twelve priority candidate indicators are proposed for opioid agonist therapy (OAT), needle and syringe programmes (NSP) and generic cross-cutting aspects of harm reduction (and potentially other drug) services. Under the specific OAT indicators, priority indicators included 'coverage', 'waiting list time', 'dosage' and 'availability in prisons'. For the specific NSP indicators, the priority indicators included 'coverage', 'number of needles/syringes distributed/collected', 'provision of other drug use paraphernalia' and 'availability in prisons'. Among the generic or cross-cutting indicators the priority indicators were 'infectious diseases counselling and care', 'take away naloxone', 'information on safe use/sex' and 'condoms'. We discuss conditions for the successful development of the suggested indicators and constraints (e.g. funding, ideology). We propose conducting a pilot study to test the feasibility and applicability of the proposed indicators before their scaling up and routine implementation, to evaluate their effectiveness in comparing service coverage and quality across countries. CONCLUSIONS The establishment of an improved set of validated and internationally agreed upon best practice indicators for monitoring harm reduction service will provide a structural basis for public health and epidemiological studies and support evidence and human rights-based health policies, services and interventions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lucas Wiessing
- European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), Praça Europa 1, Cais do Sodré, 1249-289 Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Marica Ferri
- European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), Praça Europa 1, Cais do Sodré, 1249-289 Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Vendula Běláčková
- Department of Addictology, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and General University Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic
- National Institute for Mental Health, Prague, Czech Republic
- Uniting Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, Sydney, Australia
| | - Patrizia Carrieri
- Marseille Univ, INSERM, IRD, SESSTIM, Marseille, France
- ORS PACA, Marseille, France
| | - Samuel R. Friedman
- Institute of Infectious Disease Research, National Development and Research Institutes, New York, USA
| | - Cinta Folch
- Centre d’Estudis Epidemiològics sobre les Infeccions de Transmissió Sexual i Sida de Catalunya (CEEISCAT), Agència de Salut Pública de Catalunya (ASPC), Barcelona, Spain
- Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
| | - Kate Dolan
- Program of International Research and Training, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, The University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia
| | | | - Peter Vickerman
- School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Jeffrey V. Lazarus
- CHIP, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Barcelona Institute of Global Health (ISGlobal), Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Viktor Mravčík
- Department of Addictology, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and General University Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic
- National Institute for Mental Health, Prague, Czech Republic
- National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addiction, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Mirjam Kretzschmar
- Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands
| | - Vana Sypsa
- Department of Hygiene Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Ana Sarasa-Renedo
- Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
- Spanish Field Epidemiology Training Program (PEAC), National Centre of Epidemiology, Carlos III Health Institute, Madrid, Spain
| | - Anneli Uusküla
- Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Dimitrios Paraskevis
- Department of Hygiene Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Luis Mendão
- Group of Activists on Treatments (GAT), Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Diana Rossi
- Intercambios Civil Association and University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Nadine van Gelder
- European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), Praça Europa 1, Cais do Sodré, 1249-289 Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Luke Mitcheson
- Alcohol, Drug, and Tobacco Division, Health and Wellbeing Directorate, Public Health England, London, UK
| | - Letizia Paoli
- Leuven Institute of Criminology (LINC), Faculty of Law, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Centre for Global Governance Studies (GSS), Leuven, Belgium
| | - Cristina Diaz Gomez
- French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT), Saint-Denis, France
| | - Maitena Milhet
- French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT), Saint-Denis, France
| | - Nicoleta Dascalu
- The Romanian Association Against AIDS (ARAS), Bucharest, Romania
| | | | - Gordon Hay
- Public Health Institute, Faculty of Education, Health and Community, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
| | - Eleni Kalamara
- European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), Praça Europa 1, Cais do Sodré, 1249-289 Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Roland Simon
- European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), Praça Europa 1, Cais do Sodré, 1249-289 Lisbon, Portugal
| | | | - Carla Rossi
- Centro Studi Statistici e Sociali CE3S, Rome, Italy
| | - Paul Griffiths
- European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), Praça Europa 1, Cais do Sodré, 1249-289 Lisbon, Portugal
| |
Collapse
|