• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Drug Policy and Law
  • Harm Reduction
  • Activism

Drugreporter

News and Films from the Frontline of the War on Drugs

  • News
  • Café
  • Videos
  • About Us
  • EN
    • HU
    • RU

Cost-effective Yet Underfunded: The Harm Reduction Program of Odyseus in Slovakia

November 10, 2015 | Author: István Gábor Takács

Tweet

In Slovakia, the cost/benefit analysis carried out on a needle and syringe exchange program showed that every euro invested in C.A. Odyseus´s harm reduction program generated benefits worth almost three euros. Read what the figures show about why it’s worthwhile investing in harm reduction!

The Odyseus NGO in Slovakia, founded in 1997, has been running a harm reduction needle and syringe program (NSP) in Bratislava, the capital city, for more than 17 years. Odyseus is one of four non-governmental organisations providing needle and syringe exchange programs in Slovakia. Each year, Odyseus works with approximately 1,000 injecting drug users and sex workers, and distributes around 140,000 sterile syringes, while collecting around 100,000 used syringes in exchange.

Taking into account the program´s costs, C.A. Odyseus´s harm reduction program creates a benefit of almost 174,000 euros per year.

Every year, harm reduction NGOs struggle with the lack of funding and political will. After many years of operation, harm reduction is still often perceived by the general public as “promoting drug use”, causing harm reduction programs to remain underfunded by the state and its agencies.

In order to refute the myths around harm reduction, Odyseus joined a pro bono program run by Pontis foundation in 2014. Odyseus provided its data and budget information to the pro bono volunteers from The Institute for Financial Policy (IFP) at the Slovakian Ministry of Finance, in order to examine the efficiency of its needle and syringe exchange programs.

The analysis focused on the costs and benefits of the program, in terms of hepatitis-C prevention (other benefits related to the NSP, such as HIV prevention, were not considered in the evaluation).

According to the IFP analysis, the syringe exchange program prevented 18% of new hepatitis-C infections in 2014, which, based on conservative estimates using the official statistics, represents 2.5 infections. Odyseus, however, cautions that the official statistics in our view underestimate the number of new Hepatitis-C cases, since the real number of cases probably exceeds the number reported. Even so, every case of infection which is prevented will create a benefit of almost 106,000 euros over the next 25 years, mainly through savings in treatment costs and improved quality of life. Last year, the overall budget of the program came to 90,000 euros. An additional financial challenge is that the Odyseus budget is set on a one-year basis, and often does not cover administration costs.

Watch Drugreporters’ recent video on the Slovakian situation:

Every euro invested in C.A. Odyseus´s harm reduction syringe exchange program generated benefits worth almost three euros

According to the IFP´s estimates, the harm reduction needle and syringe program of Odyseus is highly cost-effective. Benefits outweigh program costs by a ratio of 2.9:1. Every euro invested generated benefits worth almost three euros. The internal rate of return of the program is 16% – international organisations recommend pursuing public investments with a return of more than 3.5 to 5%.

Besides the financial cost-effectiveness of Odyseus’ harm reduction program, it creates other benefits which were not taken into account during this analysis. These include the prevention of HIV and other infections, and benefits related to outreach work as such. It is worth mentioning that harm reduction programs usually represent the first contact point where non-judgmental support is provided for people who inject drugs in Slovakia.

Of course, the IFP´s analysis also points out several issues to think about – for example the need to expand the program, so that it can reach more people, especially the young ones who inject drugs, and the need to increase the number of collected used syringes.

However, such expansion cannot happen, so long as organisations such as Odyseus continue to struggle every year for financial survival. We believe this analysis brings hope for a systematic change in funding harm reduction programs. It shows that investments in harm reduction are pragmatic and useful in everyday life as well as in the long term. What is needed, though, is for state and local governments to invest in harm reduction programs.

Iveta Chovancová, Miroslava Žilinská (C.A. Odyseus)

Martin Filko, Martina Hojčková, Juraj Mach, Libor Melioris (IFP)

 

The whole analysis can be found in Slovak language here.

Filed Under: Articles Topics: European Drug Policy, Harm Reduction

Access to this article is free - but to produce articles and videos is not. Drugreporter is a non-profit website that needs your support to provide you with high quality contents.

Become a supporter and make a donation of 5 $ today!

Kapcsolódó cikkek:

40 Years in the Frontlines of Harm Reduction in Ireland – Interview with Tony Duffin

December 20, 2022 - Péter Sárosi

Decriminalisation in Portugal: Through the Lens of People who Use Drugs

December 5, 2022 - István Gábor Takács

Harm Reduction in Athens – With the Eye of an Outsider

November 23, 2022 - Péter Sárosi

Kapcsolódó videók:

Decriminalisation in Portugal: Through the Lens of People who Use Drugs

December 5, 2022 - István Gábor Takács

Drugreporter News | 2022 November

November 24, 2022 - István Gábor Takács

Harm Reduction in Athens – With the Eye of an Outsider

November 23, 2022 - Péter Sárosi

You can browse our topics here:

Activism COVID-19 Criminalisation Dose of Science Drug Consumption Rooms Drug Policy and Law European Drug Policy Harm Reduction Hepatitis HIV/AIDS Marijuana Policies Medical Marijuana Needle and syringe programs New Psychoactive Substances Opiate Substitution Overdose Prevention Psychedelic Medicines Regulation and Control Russian Drug Policy Sex Work United Nations Drug Policy US Drug Policy

Primary Sidebar

BECOME A SUPPORTER OF DRUGREPORTER! INVEST THE PRICE OF A COFFEE MONTHLY AND MAKE SURE DRUGREPORTER KEEPS RUNNING!
Subscribe to the Newsletter!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Search

Drugreporter Video Database

Hundreds of videos on drug policy, harm reduction and human rights for streaming and download, also on a world map!

DRUGREPORTER NEWS

Monthly drug policy news from around the world

Drugreporter café

In our new online video show, we regularly discuss new developments in the world of drug policy with professionals, activists and decision makers. You can also listen to the Drugreporter Café in Podcast format on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

COVID-19 Harm Reduction Update

On this info page Drugreporter provides regular updates about resources and news on how harm reduction service providers respond to the COVID-19 Epidemic.

Drugreporter Video Advocacy Network

Browse videos produced by members of our Drugreporter Video Advocacy Network, from all around the world!

DRUG USERS NEWS

Russian language videos on drug policy, harm reduction and human rights.

Our award winning animated documentary movie is based on the original audio recording of Kostya Proletarsky, a drug user and HIV activist who died as a result of mistreatment and torture at a Russian prison. Festival appearances, news and resources are available here!

Footer

Rights Reporter Foundation
Hungary, 1032 Budapest
San Marco Street 70.
Email: rightsreporter@rightsreporter.net

Search

Our other websites:

The Rights Reporter Foundation

The Autocracy Analyst

Room for Change Campaign

Room in the 8th District Campaign

A Day in the Life movie website

Drugreporter