Syringe Exchange Availability in Germany 2011

Harm Reduction

"Following on from the findings of the project, presented in the last REITOX Report, to produce a situational report on existing syringe exchange programmes in Germany (Flöter et al. 2011), internet research was once more carried out to confirm facilities identified in the last report and possibly to identify further facilities offering syringe exchange. This research reveals in total 223 facilities with syringe exchange programmes (mainly contact sites of drug help facilities and the German AIDS Service Organisation (Deutsche AIDS Hilfe, DAH)) as well as 167 syringe dispensing machines. One should note that these figures possibly represent an underestimation of syringe exchange programmes actually available in Germany as they only include facilities that have either taken part in the syringe exchange project of the IFT or specifically mention their syringe exchange programme on their website.
"Further information on syringe exchange programmes can be found in Standard Table 10.
"The only Land in which a regular survey is conducted on a local level on the distribution of single use syringes by the DAH (AIDS-Hilfe), is North-Rhine Westphalia. In 2011, the DAH NRW reported 1,927,626 (2010: 2,113,242) loose syringes were handed into drug facilities as well as 228,262 (210: 251, 072) syringes handed in via automatic machines (AIDS Hilfe NRW e.V. 2012)."