Drug use practices that can lead to transmission of HIV, HCV, and other infections are pressing issues affecting communities throughout Canada. To stay current with emerging evidence and ensure that people have access to high-quality services that help prevent HIV and HCV transmission, best practice recommendations must undergo review and update. A Canada-wide team of researchers, service providers, policy makers and people with lived experience have developed, through extensive literature review and synthesis, an updated and comprehensive set of best practice recommendations.
This 2021 version presents user-friendly, evidence-based, national best practice recommendations. The goal of the Best Practice Recommendations is to improve the effectiveness of programs that deliver harm reduction supplies to people who use drugs and are at risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C (HCV), hepatitis B (HBV), overdose and other harms. These updated recommendations are a tool to transfer knowledge to develop, review, redesign, and evaluate programs.