Creating Responsive Programs to Meet Changing Population Needs

This Webinar Wednesday is presented by Tasha Turner-Bicknell, DNP, RN, CPH

The unprecedented surge of overdose deaths in the United States has challenged public health entities to evaluate the effectiveness of current programs and search the research evidence for new ways to reach people who use drugs. Specifically, black, indigenous, and people of color who use drugs remain over-represented in nationwide overdose deaths and under-represented in harm reduction outreach.

In this webinar, we will discuss how structural racism can impact the uptake of harm reduction services and how harm reduction vending machines and mobile units can reach marginalized populations that have been historically reluctant to access harm reduction services.

It is essential for harm reduction programing to continue to innovate and respond to the dynamic needs of people who use drugs. Expanding harm reduction services beyond syringe service programming will be essential moving forward or we risk falling short of our mission to recognize and advocate for the human rights and dignity of people who use drugs. Future work should focus on leveraging dispensing machines and mobile units to offer additional health services such as wound care, immunizations, and primary care.