To: Board of Supervisors
From: DHHS: Public Health
Agenda Section: Departmental
Vote Requirement: Majority
SUBJECT:
title
Report on the DHHS - Public Health Syringe Services Program (SSP)
end
RECOMMENDATION(S):
Recommendation
That the Board of Supervisors:
1. Receive and file a report on the SSP by the Humboldt County Health Officer and Public Health Director.
Body
SOURCE OF FUNDING:
Public Health Fund (1175)
DISCUSSION:
Syringe services programs (SSPs) or needle exchange programs are recommended as public health best practice by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), California Department of Public Health (CDPH), and World Health Organization (WHO), and are part of comprehensive harm reduction programs. These programs can provide access to disease and overdose prevention education and such as sterile needles, other injection supplies, non-injection supplies, safer sex supplies, HIV/HCV testing, and naloxone (Narcan), free of cost for participants. They have been operating in California since the late 1980s, with more than 65 currently operating in California.
In 2000, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors approved syringe exchange services by partner agencies; in 2012, the Board approved DHHS-Public Health's Syringe Services Program through its mobile outreach program. This program is operated by DHHS-Public Health's North Coast AIDS Project (NorCAP). The DHHS - Public Health Harm Reduction Program is an essential component of Humboldt County's Board Strategic Framework Core Role to "Create opportunities for improved safety and health" and the Humboldt County Community Health Improvement Plan Priority Area "Behavioral Health - Substance Use". This program is an essential strategy for reducing the harm of drug use to individuals, families, and communities. Benefits include the prevention of disease, injury, and death associated with drug use, as well as addressing other drug-related harm by providing referrals to treatment.
Current reg...
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